This year, AI spending has added more to the US GDP than consumer spending itself. But the growth isn’t coming from revolutionary AI products changing how we work — it’s from a frantic buildout of data centers and chips in the hope that such products will arrive someday.
This distinction matters because once the data centers are built and the chips are installed, what happens if the promised productivity gains never arrive?
Humans win.
“This distinction matters because once the data centers are built and the chips are installed, what happens if the promised productivity gains never arrive?”
That is an excellent discussion. Because it will not. Already the costs are far outweighing the revenue. And this is still not even taking into account hidden variables. One of the things not being discussed is the maintenance costs to even keep them working. It will be double what they are expecting. Those electronics are not “install and forget” or reliable.
The integrity of the chips and memory degrade just like Solid State Memory does. And AI puts such a load on them the life expectancy is reduced by 50%. They are touting a life expectancy of ten years for these electronics when the true reality will only be three to five years. So in the long term their overhead is actually going to be double what they are selling to everyone.
It is already a sinking ship with too many holes to plug... It is a huge mistake to invest so much of our economy into this sinking ship.
“once the data centers are built and the chips are installed, what happens if the promised productivity gains never arrive?”
Who’s paying for this equipment? Is jt being done with borrowed money? Is it already generating profit for its uilders?