A growing group of critics say we’re in an artificial intelligence bubble. Is it true? If so, how would we know?
The new technology would change everything, the evangelist said. It was “transforming culture, economics and politics far more thoroughly than the computer age did,” he wrote. “A new economy is emerging, based on a new sphere of cornucopian radiance—reality unmassed and unmasked, leaving only the promethean light.”
George Gilder , the writer and tech guru, published these words in late 2000. The revolutionary technology to which he was referring: fiber-optic cable. He had cause for optimism. In the previous few years, the so-called information superhighway had snaked its way across the country, introducing many Americans to the internet. The boom gave rise to hundreds of telecommunication companies, many of whose stocks Gilder recommended in his popular investing newsletter.