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There’s a bubble forming in the artificial intelligence industry, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
“Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI? My opinion is yes. Is AI the most important thing to happen in a very long time? My opinion is also yes,” Altman said, according to a report by The Verge.
Altman’s AI company is currently in talks to sell about $6 billion in stock that would value OpenAI at around $500 billion, CNBC confirmed Friday.
In another context, Altman warned that the U.S. may be underestimating the progress that China is making in AI.
Given the above premises, should investors be more cautious about OpenAI? Altman was not posed this question, but one wonders whether his opinion would also be “yes.”
Outside pure-play AI companies, the money is, likewise, still flowing. Intel is receiving a $2 billion injection of cash from Japan’s SoftBank.
It’s a much-needed boost to the beleaguered U.S. chipmaker. Intel has fallen behind foreign rivals such as TSMC and Samsung in manufacturing semiconductors that serve as the brains for AI models.
But going by Altman’s views, the investment in Intel might not be a good bet by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son.
Not everyone agrees with Altman, of course. Ray Wang, research director for semiconductors, supply chain and emerging technology at Futurum Group, pointed out that the AI industry is not heterogeneous. There are market leaders, and then there are companies that are still developing.
In the real world, bubbles delight because they reflect their surroundings in a play of light. But the bubble Altman describedcould be one doesn’t show the face of its observer.
— CNBC’s Dylan Butts contributed to this report
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The artificial intelligence market is in a bubble, says Sam Altman. Separately, the OpenAI CEO said he’s “worried about China,” and that the U.S. may be underestimating the latter’s progress in artificial intelligence.
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And finally…
China’s EV industry is spending more on factories abroad than at home for the first time
For the first time since records going back to 2014, the Chinese electric car supply chain last year invested more outside the country than at home, according to a U.S.-based consulting firm Rhodium Group report published Monday.
Around 74% of announced overseas investment was in battery factories, the report said. But it noted investment in assembly plants abroad was also “growing rapidly.”
— Evelyn Cheng
International: Top News And Analysis
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