The 2010s internet meme "YOLO" — an acronym for "You Only Live Once" — is making a surprising comeback, this time not in party culture or social media captions, but in the boardrooms and labs of the AI industry. Once a symbol of youthful recklessness, the term is now being used by top AI leaders to describe a high-stakes, fast-moving development approach that’s both driving innovation and raising serious concerns. The phrase gained global fame in 2011 when Drake popularized it in his hit song "The Motto." Over the years, it became synonymous with over-the-top bravado and a certain kind of uncool, performative risk-taking. But in 2024, it’s resurfaced with a new, more ominous meaning. At the New York Times DealBook Summit, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei used the term to critique the aggressive development strategies of some of his competitors. "There are some players who are YOLO-ing, who pull the risk dial too far, and I'm very concerned," he said, warning that some companies are moving too fast without sufficient safeguards. In contrast, he emphasized that Anthropic is committed to a more responsible, measured path in building AI. The term is also being adopted by researchers. Jason Wei, a researcher at Meta, described "yolo runs" as a state of intuitive, high-risk experimentation. In a "yolo run," a developer skips the traditional, methodical process of testing one variable at a time. Instead, they implement a bold, ambitious new model with little de-risking, relying on instinct to set hyperparameters, choose model components, and predict issues. "These choices are non-obvious to everyone else on the team," Wei wrote on X, highlighting the unpredictable, almost improvisational nature of the approach. At a panel hosted by Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center, professor Jonathan Zittrain applied the YOLO framework to the broader AI ecosystem. He described a culture where founders and venture capitalists are willing to launch any idea quickly, test it in the market, and if it fails, simply move on to the next startup. If it succeeds, they cash out. "Is that an OK model of development for this possibly transformative tech?" he asked. This shift reflects a growing tension within the AI industry. On one side, the race to build more powerful models is intensifying. Tech giants like Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft are investing record amounts in AI infrastructure, with capital expenditures on chips, servers, and data centers soaring. The momentum has pushed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to new highs, driven by investor confidence in AI’s future. On the other side, experts warn that the YOLO mindset may be overlooking serious risks. AI "godfather" Geoffrey Hinton recently told Sen. Bernie Sanders that rapid AI advancement could lead to mass unemployment, deepen inequality, and fundamentally alter human relationships. A report by AlphaSense found that 418 public companies with valuations over $1 billion have cited AI as a reputational and security risk in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Despite these warnings, many organizations remain slow to appoint AI ethics officers or implement robust governance structures, prioritizing speed and productivity over caution. As the AI industry accelerates, the revival of "YOLO" serves as a stark reminder: the same mindset that once fueled viral memes may now be shaping the future of technology — and the world — in ways we’re only beginning to understand.