Are we in an AI bubble? What technology leaders and analysts are saying

Are we in an artificial intelligence bubble?

It is the debate that dominated the tech industry in 2025and it’s not going away anytime soon.

Record valuations and transactions driven by large investments In artificial intelligence have fueled the AI ​​boom, leaving some bracing for a possible explosion.

AI leaders love OpenAI And Nvidia have woven an impressive web of stunning deals with cloud infrastructure companies, while hyperscalers including Amazon, Microsoft And Google continue to spend billions on data center constructions.

Even as companies struggle to meet the rapidly accelerating demand for AI, the huge debt Funding for these construction projects has sparked fears that this spending spree may prove to be excessive measure.

Economic bubbles occurs when asset prices in a specific market rise rapidly, often due to speculation or excessive enthusiasm, followed by a crash when prices suddenly fall.

Bubble talk reignited late last year after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang dismissed fears of a possible AI failure during the company’s third-quarter earnings call.

“There’s been a lot of talk about an AI bubble,” he said. “From our perspective, we see something very different.”

Others are less confident in the stability of the rise of AI, notably investor “The Big Short”. Michael Burry.

The fund manager, who became famous for predicting the 2008 housing crisis, drew parallels between today’s spending euphoria and the dot-com craze of the late 1990s. Substack essay.

“Sometimes we see bubbles,” Burry wrote in an October statement. Message. “Sometimes there is something to be done. Sometimes the only winning move is not to play.”

CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman made a similar comparison during a dinner with journalists in August.

“Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI? My opinion is yes. Is AI the most important thing in a very long time? My opinion is also yes,” he said.

A note on methodology:

CNBC compiled responses from 40 technology executives, analysts and other industry professionals, who shared their thoughts over the past four months on the current AI frenzy.

Although the question of whether or not the market is in a bubble seems binary, many answers have been provided across a spectrum of potential bubbles – and concerns.

To give each response a more complete perspective, CNBC also weighed the level of concern.

CNBC rated each person’s remarks on a scale of 0 to 10 based on two factors: how much they believe AI is in a bubble (0 being no and 10 being yes) and how worried they are about it (0 being not at all concerned and 10 being very concerned).