The AI Bubble

[WillyAp]

AI is all present, many apps have an all new approach trying to force you onto the AI bandwagon. Their issue is to make it important enough that we pay.
Perplexity gave free access to its tool to india. Still those prompts cost money to work them.

In July Perplexity, a startup hoping to dent Google’s dominance in search, made the boldest move: it struck a deal with Bharti Airtel, one of India’s biggest telecoms firms, to provide its AI service (usually $240 a year) free for a year to all 360m Airtel customers. According to Sensor Tower, a market-intelligence firm, downloads of Perplexity in India soared by almost 800% month-on-month after the Airtel tie-up, compared with gains of 39% and 6% for ChatGPT and Gemini

The issue is: How many people can afford a $20 monthly fee?

For example, Netflix, a video-streaming service, costs as little as $1.69 a month in India, compared with $7.99 in America. For cloud services with a low marginal cost, this is no great sacrifice. But running AI queries is expensive. Processing costs for typical users currently hover at around $0.07 per million “tokens” (the units of data processed by AI models) and the response to a single query can run to hundreds or thousands of tokens. That expense is the same whether the user is in Bangalore or the Bay Area.

https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/09/17/ai-is-erupting-in-india
Paywall free: https://archive.today/99zZk

People in the western world usually spend a little here and there. Vacations, daily Starbucks coffees cost them a house. House owning under recent generations is around 12% vs 1950 at 50%.

Fact is the world is a poorer place. Big bucks have forgotten that users need money to spend, here Elon comes in with general public income.
There is too much money in the wrong hands, the leftist thinking process evolves around that.

AI to begin with is thought to be good at developing software, the truth is it isn't. Why? Because every programming logic is created by the developer, he/she/they follow a line. The AI fetches code parts from the Internet. 

the think tank Model Evaluation & Threat Research randomly assigned a group of experienced software developers to perform coding tasks with or without AI tools. It was the most rigorous test to date of how AI would perform in the real world. Because coding is one of the skills that existing models have largely mastered, just about everyone involved expected AI to generate huge productivity gains.  

Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/economy/archive/2025/09/ai-bubble-us-economy/684128/

Customer Service AI is brilliant, Imaging, Video too, Drohne and warfare all good. But not one thing where people say I buy the AI browser for $5 per month when the non AI Browser is just as good.

Additionally comes a huge security concern, AI is made to collect data, people  don't seem to care.  

The AI Bubble is closing its bursting point. That should make the management wake up, it is the management's biggest failure to beware Investors for overexposure, They don't care.  

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

AI is all present, many apps have an all new approach trying to force you onto the AI bandwagon. Their issue is to make it important enough that we pay.

Is this not mediocrity of its highest order, when we are using our hard earned money to pay for what we have no trust in and cannot be accurate in maximum delivery with consistency, many of us could even perform well and more better than some of these bots we tend to go after in making investment through, but because many already left the normal and required procedures behind, then they begin to run after what is not it.

[WillyAp]

Is this not mediocrity of its highest order, when we are using our hard earned money to pay for what we have no trust in and cannot be accurate in maximum delivery with consistency, many of us could even perform well and more better than some of these bots we tend to go after in making investment through, but because many already left the normal and required procedures behind, then they begin to run after what is not it.

You are missing the point here.
AI bubble has issues in making money.

The issue is that the most likely user is already over expanded into Netflix, Prime, Starbucks Coffee and such.
The world, with more money than ever, has more poor people in it than before.

[Davidvictorson]

Additionally comes a huge security concern, AI is made to collect data, people  don't seem to care.  

The AI Bubble is closing its bursting point. That should make the management wake up, it is the management's biggest failure to beware Investors for overexposure, They don't care.  

This in my estimation, is the most scary thing about AI. And those who create them know it. The security and privacy concerns but it a trade-off. It is like saying you want to use my product and make use of my services, you have to give me your personal information. And they the AI creators can use that for anything . Personally, I don't think alot of them will adhere to whatever ethics that guides it but we only hope that whatever they use it for will be for the good of humanity.

[WillyAp]

This in my estimation, is the most scary thing about AI. And those who create them know it.

They sure do. Still there is not scary event. Those data-centers remain, Most people making 125k a year have little to worry about.
The people who don't control their in and outgoing funds always have issues.

The AI Bubble will burn several billion Dollars which are mostly numbers in a financial system.
Hiere is the Dollar sheet, how many US $ are there: https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/coin_currcircvolume.htm
The dotcom Bubble had bigger effects, so did the 2008 financial crash.

[DeathAngel]

AI feels a bit like a bubble right now since so much money & hype are flying around. Some companies are worth way more than they actually make which seems risky. If the promises don’t match the results there could be a crash, kind of like the dot-com bust. But even if that happens AI itself won’t disappear, it’ll just grow slower & more realistically after the hype fades.

[KiaKia]

You said AI is just here to steal data I think this is wrong, a man who use a sword to safe his people is different from a man who use a sword to kill his people, the lesson here is anything can be used for good or evil.

I know few youtubers that are making $20,000 per month with AI and content creation, they use AI to generate stories from the past and make them look more detailed in animation form and upload them, this is how they make money  nonstop, people digest a lot of those crime stories.

Since YouTube policies is not against the use of AI I believe they will be fine, I am just here to correct you that AI is not for stealing data only, you can use it for your own advantage in good or bad way.

[WillyAp]

Since YouTube policies is not against the use of AI I believe they will be fine, I am just here to correct you that AI is not for stealing data only, you can use it for your own advantage in good or bad way.

Sure there are people making money with it.
Just the 3% of users are millions of creators, will AI use in Imaging be outlawed? Once the public won't see those YT videos any more. they stop publishing them. Me, I don't watch AI content. The world is forest of lies.

And yes, AI fetches data from Users, that is how they are developed.

[WillyAp]

AI companies saving Chipmakers:

ONE THING is clear about the announcement on September 22nd that Nvidia may invest up to $100bn in OpenAI in order to help the maker of ChatGPT buy 4m-5m of Nvidia’s artificial-intelligence (AI) chips. Silicon Valley is becoming more incestuous than ever.
Just days before, Nvidia had said it would invest $5bn in Intel, as part of a deal to boost its beleaguered chipmaking rival. The proposed partnership with OpenAI, due to start in the second half of 2026, is yet more eye-popping. It also makes today’s AI-driven stockmarket rally increasingly dependent on the intertwined fortunes of the world’s most valuable firm and America’s biggest private tech firm. For good measure, OpenAI is also deeply entangled with Microsoft, the world’s second-richest company.

https://www.economist.com/business/2025/09/25/nvidias-100bn-bet-on-openai-raises-plenty-of-questions
Paywall free https://archive.today/fxC14

What sticks out is "increasingly dependent on the intertwined fortunes of the world’s most valuable firm".
How nicely put. 

[joniboini]

I know few youtubers that are making $20,000 per month with AI and content creation, they use AI to generate stories from the past and make them look more detailed in animation form and upload them, this is how they make money  nonstop, people digest a lot of those crime stories.

Can you give examples? How did you know they make $20k per month, too? That's a lot of money considering how many people hate AI content nowadays. Don't they get any pushback because they don't pay or hire creators who can draw/illustrate their stories? I know one or two channels that posted horror stories and use little AI, mostly for subtitles. They still hire voice actors instead of using AI to narrate them, though.

[JiiBs]

Additionally comes a huge security concern, AI is made to collect data, people  don't seem to care.  

The AI Bubble is closing its bursting point. That should make the management wake up, it is the management's biggest failure to beware Investors for overexposure, They don't care.  

This in my estimation, is the most scary thing about AI. And those who create them know it. The security and privacy concerns but it a trade-off.

The internet could be such a scary place in recent times and it’s unavoidable which makes the case even worst than we know it.

We find ourselves having these and that tech collect and store data about us with the push of a button and most times, we don’t know to what limit of data these AI are allowed access. Yet, we have a lot of them in today, with every app having to incorporate one and make the users use them.

No good old fashion means to data security no more.

[Solosanz]

Yeah, to be more accurate AI startups bubble.

Many startups are trying to make their own AI in order to make people interested to subscribe their premium account/membership, unfortunately it requires a big capital to create and advertise it. Sooner or later once the investors no longer want to back up for operational cost, AI startups will die.

I think we're somewhat near the peak, too many startups that I see nothing different with the older one.

[WillyAp]

I think we're somewhat near the peak, too many startups that I see nothing different with the older one.

Could be, the way the big tech companies pushing for massive investment in countries without their own digital infrastructure, i.e Britain (closing down their IT Department) shows that the pressure is on to produce the all important use case. 

Users, used to being a product, and happy with it are not buying.
Still if perplexity can give Indian users a year,  they have a year at least to keep pushing AI onto us,

Yes I believe that AI takes data from users. Remember Google paying a fine for collecting data with chrome's private browsing?
Big Corp get slapped a fine and still keep the data.

[bubilas]

Yes, for me, the pinnacle of AI stupidity was the engineer.ai project, which ultimately didn't have any computing power, just a bunch of people solving problems. It's funny. I don't remember who they were, Chinese or Indian, but I laughed a lot. After all, this service was supposed to make apps and was raising money for it. And in the end, they were exposed in disgrace.
Of course, this field is overrated.

[mu_enrico]

IMO, "AI" like ChatGPT (for text) or others for generating video is a good idea. Thus, many people try to be the #1 in this industry, hence creating a big investment bubble. But the so-called AI isn't vaporware and has been quite useful. It can also code, do your spreadsheet work, etc.

Regarding the subscription fees, yes, they are too expensive for some, but maybe if the scale is big enough, the fees will drop. The service may survive with both free and subscription plans though, just like Grammarly. Not sure what will happen in the future, since it may not be suitable for an ad-based model.

The point is that, sure, AI is a bubble right now, just like the dot-com bubble. But it's a common/natural occurrence in the tech space. Nothing to worry about. After the bubble bursts, we'll have the mainstream products that users like.

[peter0425]

AI is all present, many apps have an all new approach trying to force you onto the AI bandwagon. Their issue is to make it important enough that we pay.

While I understand how some form of AI can make a lot of people’s work easier, the truth is that a lot of what AI does can still be done by humans. A lot of digital works, art, edits, etc can still be done by humans without subscription to AI. But people nowadays pay for convenience and efficiency.

Additionally comes a huge security concern, AI is made to collect data, people  don't seem to care.  

I wish people understood this more. When they feed AI their pictures, those pictures can be used in the internet without their consent. But people doesn’t seem to care about privacy anymore. AI can be harmful and no one bats an eye.

[Synchronice]

AI feels a bit like a bubble right now since so much money & hype are flying around. Some companies are worth way more than they actually make which seems risky. If the promises don’t match the results there could be a crash, kind of like the dot-com bust. But even if that happens AI itself won’t disappear, it’ll just grow slower & more realistically after the hype fades.

It's a bubble and play on words. One of my friend has ChatGPT and Claude Pro, so I asked him to let me test this AI. It's nothing magnificent and is full of mistakes. The only AI that I liked was Claude Sonnet. It's a great tool in terms of playing with data because its algorithms are really good at reading a bug chunk of data and quickly generating a result. These AIs are also good for quick and easy solutions, you can easily ask it a small coding problem for example and it will quickly fix it but it's not a tool that can really change humans in the next few years at least. It makes things easier but is definitely extremely overhyped at this point.
It's like, basically, Photoshop's content aware is now AI content aware while this option was available before the existence of AI.

[joniboini]

The service may survive with both free and subscription plans though, just like Grammarly. Not sure what will happen in the future, since it may not be suitable for an ad-based model.

Personally, I can see a problem that requires multiple apps to solve it for now, but AI-based text generation might be able to streamline those issues in the future. For example, learning language on the fly, where users can OCR any text and use repeatable read-aloud on the fly from one extension/app. I can see myself using that even if there's a slight delay compared to running local model. They can offer premium feature like higher TTS quality, better model, etc.

[SodaOak]

You said many apps have now joined the AI wagon, how about old and new crypto projects that stylishly change or apply AI usage to their utility? This is how I let go of some projects from my portfolio because it is obvious that they are chasing the trend, a project that was built to function as a data access with lower cost using open source infrastructure should have no business with AI agents if they have been running without one for years already.

This is a good way to know which project is here to build or here to chase the hype of something else entirely.

[batang_bitcoin]

The AI Bubble is closing its bursting point. That should make the management wake up, it is the management's biggest failure to beware Investors for overexposure, They don't care.  

It's coming and I don't expect this to be quick. Lucky are those AI developers that have been hired and got a huge paycheck from these companies that are developing their own AI agents. I think that having into AI is great for content creators because it does the job for them when people likes to consume contents that are even generated by these AIs. Whoever made this trend this big, I think that they'll also suffer when it's already overcrowded and overvalued. Yeah, it's in due and about to come anytime soon.