Sam Altman Acknowledges AI Is in a Bubble, Warns of Overvaluation but Sees Long-Term Economic Gain

As debates swirl over whether the current surge in AI-related investments constitutes a market bubble, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has openly acknowledged that he believes we are indeed in the midst of one. Speaking in a wide-ranging interview with The Verge and other reporters, Altman said, “Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI? My opinion is yes.” He drew parallels between today’s AI frenzy and the dot-com boom of the 1990s, when internet startups saw their valuations skyrocket before the market crashed in 2000. “When bubbles happen, smart people get overexcited about a kernel of truth,” Altman explained. “If you look at most of the bubbles in history, like the tech bubble, there was a real thing. Tech was really important. The internet was a really big deal. People got overexcited.” Altman expressed concern about the current valuation of some AI startups, calling it irrational. “It’s insane,” he said, “that some AI startups with just three people and an idea are getting funded at billion-dollar valuations.” He warned that while many will profit, “someone is going to lose a phenomenal amount of money. We don’t know who, and a lot of people are going to make a phenomenal amount of money.” He pointed to recent high-profile examples, such as Safe Superintelligence—founded by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever—and Thinking Machines, launched by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, both of which have raised billions despite being in early stages. Despite the risks, Altman remains optimistic about the long-term impact of AI. “My personal belief, although I may turn out to be wrong, is that, on the whole, this would be a huge net win for the economy,” he said. Even if the bubble bursts, Altman appears confident in OpenAI’s ability to endure. He predicted that the company will soon be investing trillions of dollars in data center expansion. “You should expect OpenAI to spend trillions of dollars on data center construction in the not very distant future,” he said. “You should expect a bunch of economists to wring their hands.”