A veteran self-taught computer user argues that while an AI financial bubble may burst, the underlying technology is a once-in-a-lifetime advancement that is here to stay, citing personal gains from tools like Claude Code and AI-assisted development.
I see a lot of people complaining about AI: the risks, the hype, the bubble, and so on. Here is what I know from actually using it. I've been a self-taught computer user for more than 25 years. I never studied computer science or earned a degree, but at six years old I was already using MS-DOS on my father's computer to launch video games (mostly Age of Empires, by the way). Whatever I've needed since then, I researched or reverse-engineered on my own. And this AI... a bubble? Madness. This is the biggest leap forward I have seen in computing in my entire life. Literally my entire life. I've always had good intuition with computers, but now I'm building automated benchmarks and creating whole projects. And I'm not a company. I'm not a drone working for Google. I'm an ordinary user using AI for my own benefit, and that benefit is impossible to measure. Using Claude Code is like having a very good programmer by my side all day, one who gets better every day. Using Linux has never been easier. Developing custom plugins built exactly for my needs has never been easier. I won't lie: I've almost stopped downloading programs, because making my own is now easier than cracking a game was in 2007. So when people talk about a bubble, they're mixing up two different things. Is there a financial bubble? Possibly. Valuations can crash, and some companies will fall. But the technology isn't going anywhere. Expecting it to disappear is like expecting people to go back to horses after the automobile. AI will keep advancing for decades, and it's here to stay until something even bigger emerges. I'm writing this because many people believe that once the bubble bursts, AI will be discarded as a useless toy. No, people. This is not a toy, and it is not useless. If you think it is, it's time to come out of the cave and look at the sun.
The article discusses the ongoing AI bubble and its impact on gaming PC sales and laptop prices, questioning when it might burst and the sustainability of continuous funding.
The author reflects on his journey from manually typing code on a vintage Macintosh to embracing AI-powered code completion tools like Copilot and Claude, concluding that while the AI industry is problematic, the technology itself can be useful.
The article argues that the AI bubble could burst without AI failure due to competition from cheaper models and cost-reduction techniques like distillation, which may erode profits from large industry spending.
The article draws parallels between the current AI boom and past internet, smartphone, and cloud computing booms, noting that despite public skepticism, AI is rapidly being adopted across industries. It highlights platforms like BingX offering pre-IPO AI investment opportunities.
The article discusses a sell-off in AI-related tech stocks, raising doubts about whether the massive spending on artificial intelligence will yield returns. It highlights market volatility, with major companies like Micron, Nvidia, and Alphabet experiencing significant drops.