OpenAI CEO Sam Altman thinks that the billions of {dollars} invested in AI now might create a bubble much like the dot-com crash of the early 2000s.
“Are we in a section the place buyers as a complete are overexcited about AI? My opinion is sure,” Altman stated at a latest dinner, per The Verge. “Good individuals get overexcited a couple of kernel of fact.”
The information reveals that AI startups are the main target of extra funding now than ever. In accordance with PitchBook, AI startups raised $104.3 billion within the U.S. within the first half of 2025, which was virtually as a lot as the whole quantity raised by all startups in 2024. PitchBook discovered that nearly two in three U.S. enterprise funding {dollars} went to AI startups this yr, greater than 49% of funds final yr.
Associated: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Says Older Employees Have to Embrace AI β or Face Shedding Their Jobs
Altman famous that AI startup valuations have now reached “insane” heights, as startups elevate tons of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} with simply an thought, signaling a bubble, per CNBC.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures
OpenAI is an instance of an organization that has raised billions of {dollars} to gasoline its AI efforts. In March, the startup raised $40 billion within the largest personal tech funding spherical ever, at a $300 billion valuation.
What was the dot-com bubble?
Altman in contrast the AI bubble to “the tech bubble” or the dot-com crash that occurred between 2000 and 2002 when the Nasdaq misplaced almost 80% of its worth.
The dot-com crash was brought on by buyers overvaluing Web-based tech corporations that lacked sustainable enterprise fashions and had little to no income. When the dot-com bubble burst, buyers incurred appreciable monetary losses, and lots of tech corporations went out of enterprise.
Associated: OpenAI Is Creating AI to Do ‘All of the Issues That Software program Engineers Hate to Do’
Bubble or not, OpenAI continues to be rising
Even when an inflow of funding is contributing to an AI bubble, Altman says that OpenAI nonetheless intends to spend closely, as much as “trillions of {dollars} on datacenter development within the not very distant future,” in line with CNBC. The corporate is betting on rising demand to bolster spending.
OpenAI’s flagship product, ChatGPT, now reaches 700 million weekly customers, a fourfold improve from the identical time final yr. Altman stated on the dinner that ChatGPT is “the fifth greatest web site on the planet proper now” and is angling to maneuver as much as the third slot by beating out Fb and Instagram. Google and YouTube are the 2 top-visited websites on the planet as of January.
It is also releasing new, up to date variations of its AI. Earlier this month, OpenAI launched its newest AI mannequin, GPT-5, which is extra environment friendly and boasts enhancements in coding, math, and different topics in comparison with earlier fashions.
Altman says that AI is “an important factor to occur in a really very long time.”
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman thinks that the billions of {dollars} invested in AI now might create a bubble much like the dot-com crash of the early 2000s.
“Are we in a section the place buyers as a complete are overexcited about AI? My opinion is sure,” Altman stated at a latest dinner, per The Verge. “Good individuals get overexcited a couple of kernel of fact.”
The information reveals that AI startups are the main target of extra funding now than ever. In accordance with PitchBook, AI startups raised $104.3 billion within the U.S. within the first half of 2025, which was virtually as a lot as the whole quantity raised by all startups in 2024. PitchBook discovered that nearly two in three U.S. enterprise funding {dollars} went to AI startups this yr, greater than 49% of funds final yr.
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