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The AI boom reminds this expert of the dot-com bubble — with one dangerous difference

May 05, 2024 - businessinsider.com
The AI boom is reminiscent of the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s and early 2000s, but with a potentially more dangerous fallout, warns Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. While the dot-com bubble was driven by small startups, the AI boom is being led by established tech giants like Microsoft and Alphabet, which have a much larger investor base. If these companies were to crash, the impact would be felt by a larger number of investors, including pension funds and retirement portfolios.

Nvidia, a major player in the AI space, has seen its revenues soar 126% to about $61 billion last financial year, driving its market value from below $400 billion to some $2.2 trillion. However, Gordon warns that even if AI is the next big thing, the valuations of AI companies may still be overblown, and these companies could still crash, causing significant losses for investors.

Key takeaways:

  • The AI boom is similar to the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s and early 2000s, but potentially more dangerous due to the larger number of investors involved, according to Professor Erik Gordon.
  • While the internet's pioneers were mostly small startups, the leaders of the AI space include established, profitable titans like Microsoft and Alphabet, which can withstand significant losses.
  • However, if AI losses drive their stock prices down, many investors, including pension funds and retirement portfolios, could suffer due to the large market share of these Big Tech companies.
  • Gordon has previously described the current situation as an 'order-of-magnitude overvaluation bubble', rather than a 'fake-companies bubble'.
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