Article

2025-08-09 Economy

If the AI Bubble Pops, It Could Now Take the Entire Economy With It

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Grom the Affective 2025-08-09 03:09|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [185 views ] Top

#1
A.I. attacks are already here,
but are your IT-SEC Defenses?

A.I. Security issues documented.

Posted by NN2N1 2025-08-09 05:37|| 2025-08-09 05:37|| Front Page Top

#2 Yeah, Big Data was bad.
Blockchain was worse.

I thought MRP was innovative, until it simply became the next manufacturing revolution.
Do it and win, don't and die.

AI will be as ubiquitous as ear buds and cell phones.

Posted by Skidmark 2025-08-09 06:33|| 2025-08-09 06:33|| Front Page Top

#3 It will likely lead to the death of a great many people.

Posted by Besoeker 2025-08-09 06:40|| 2025-08-09 06:40|| Front Page Top

#4 I think AI is bigger bull than neural networks.

Posted by Grom the Affective 2025-08-09 07:20|| 2025-08-09 07:20|| Front Page Top

#5 One of my kids is living in a Phoenix area boomtown as he works on an HVAC project for one of a host of server farms that are springing up around the country.

Posted by Super Hose 2025-08-09 08:53|| 2025-08-09 08:53|| Front Page Top

#6 A lot of companies and venture capitalists poured a helluva lotta money into dot-com startups back in the 1990's. I wondered why because most of these startups had no real plan to ever actually profit. They had no idea what they were even doing, specifically. All they knew was that shiny new World Wide Web thingy was cool and they wanted in on it.

Anybody remember Netscape? It was a really cool browser but they couldn't put it on a CD and sell it in stores. They were letting people download it for free and they never made a penny.

A few companies like Google hit it big by selling ads. They have a search engine, an email server and a browser but the only way they make any money is by selling advertisements. The vast majority of the dot-com startups went bust and a helluva lotta money went down the drain.

I remember California governor Gray Davis at the time invested a lot of state money into the dot-com bubble and when it burst he acted like he was all surprised.

"Oh, we didn't see that coming," he said.

Well, hell, if I could see it coming, why couldn't he? Could he have had friends in dot-com startups who took the money and ran? Shortly after that he was recalled and Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected.

So the lesson for AI is, if they don't have a credible plan to make money, chances are they'll lose money.

Posted by Abu Uluque 2025-08-09 12:06|| 2025-08-09 12:06|| Front Page Top

#7 I don't think enough attention has been paid to how much electricity the server farms will hoover up. That has to come from building new generation or by taking it from existing customers. And somehow I don't think the utility companies are going to prioritize you and me over Google and Meta.

Posted by Matt 2025-08-09 12:41|| 2025-08-09 12:41|| Front Page Top

#8 I seem to recall reading here that Elon Musk and at least one other of the big names are working to build dedicated nuclear power plants to cover their AI needs, Matt, so while not enough, at least some are thinking in that direction.

Posted by trailing wife 2025-08-09 12:52|| 2025-08-09 12:52|| Front Page Top

#9 tw, I'm sure the companies investing billions have thought of the power issue. I was thinking more of state public utility commissioners, who in my experience are not on the cutting edge of technology; and of individual customers. We're used to having the lights turn on as soon as we hit the switch, but that's not the only possible outcome.

Posted by Matt 2025-08-09 13:19|| 2025-08-09 13:19|| Front Page Top

#10 And right now we need about 100,000 more electricians, but what we've got are 100,000 "studies" graduates.

Posted by Matt 2025-08-09 13:26|| 2025-08-09 13:26|| Front Page Top

#11 Good electricians and HVAC people seem to always be in demand. Pretty steady demand for cardiac nurses and PA's also.

Posted by Besoeker 2025-08-09 13:41|| 2025-08-09 13:41|| Front Page Top

23:03 Ebbainter Jaique5484
22:43 Woodrow
22:38 Erasmo
18:29 Bman
16:43 Oregon Dave
15:53 NoMoreBS
15:45 NoMoreBS
15:26 Procopius2k
15:09 Every day Wildcat(KSU)
14:44 swksvolFF
14:43 Matt
14:33 swksvolFF
14:31 swksvolFF
14:07 Procopius2k
14:06 Procopius2k
13:48 ed in texas
13:45 Besoeker
13:41 Besoeker
13:34 ed in texas
13:26 Matt
13:19 Matt
13:01 DarthVader
12:53 Abu Uluque
12:52 trailing wife
Merry-Go-Blog