
Dotcom Deja Vu: 3 Signals the AI Bubble is Popping (one might be your electric bill)
From The AI Optimist by The AI Optimist with Declan Dunn - AI People First
October 31, 2025 · 11 min · Season 3 · Episode 107
About this episode
The episode discusses signals indicating the AI bubble is already cracking, drawing parallels to the dotcom era.
The Electricity Behind the AI Bubble: What Happens When the Music Stops I’ve seen this movie before . Not the AI part. The 1999 pattern. Money flowing and dreaming like it would never stop. Then it did. Right now, I’m watching three signals that tell me the AI bubble isn’t coming. It’s already here. Already cracking. And unlike the last time around, this one comes with a bill that’s landing on electricity meters whether customers use AI or not. The AI Optimist Content reflects personal opinions from a business perspective. Not legal, financial, or professional advice. See full disclaimer. Signal 1. When Money Moves Without Moving Anything During the dotcom era, I got a call from a CEO. Here was his pitch: “Send me an invoice for $1 million in advertising services. I’ll send the money. You keep $100,000 and send me back $900,000. That’s it.” Maybe it made his balance sheet look flush, investors happy? I said no. Some people said yes. Things got messy for those in the deal. Today, I’m watching OpenAI, Nvidia, and AMD play a version of that same game. The names are different. The mechanics are identical. And the scale is infinitesimally higher. OpenAI locks in massive Nvidia chip…
People in this episode
Host: Declan Dunn
Topics covered
- AI bubble
- technology trends
- business insights
- electricity costs
- investment patterns
Keywords
- AI bubble
- electricity bill
- investment
- OpenAI
- Nvidia
- AMD
- dotcom era
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: OpenAI, Nvidia, AMD
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