Will AI Ever Pay Off? Those Footing the Bill Are Worrying Already
The dizzying amounts needed for cloud computing and energy and the speed at which that money has to be spent have at least some venture capitalists wondering whether the outlay will be worth it.
OpenAI is so far the standout success of the frontline AI companies. How many more could there be?
Photographer: Sebastien Bozon/AFP/Getty Images
Tracking down those in the technology industry cautious about artificial intelligence is much like looking for Republicans in San Francisco: There’s plenty of them out there, if you’d care to ask. And lately, they seem to be growing in number.
On the one hand, it’s an optimistic time. Encouraging numbers published last week showed the level of startup investing in the April-June quarter had increased 57% compared with the level in the period a year earlier, with more than half of it going to AI companies. The trend has proved meaty enough to fuel talk of a “great reawakening” in the sector — a welcome turnaround from a year ago when startups were told to hunker down for a “mass extinction event.” (It turned out to be more of an Ozempic-speed slimming down of costs and workforce.)