Dr Jeffrey Funk: The AI Bubble will end in financial catastrophe
The CEO Retort
Why the AI Hype Began
Tim asks about how the AI hype started; Jeffrey explains early optimism, valuations, and revenue disconnects driving the bubble.
Veteran technologist and author of Unicorns, Hype and Bubbles: A Guide to Spotting, Avoiding and Exploiting Investment Bubbles in Tech (2024) reveals the truth about tech bubbles and the devastating financial impact of the current AI bubble when it bursts!
Dr. Jeffrey Funk is a professor and consultant with a 40-year career focused on how new technologies emerge and diffuse. While teaching in Japan in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he was among the first to recognise the potential of smartphones. He worked closely with several Western companies to assist with their implementation of mobile technologies.
After moving to the National University of Singapore in 2007, his research on the economics of new technology led him to identify and become a critic of the "innovation slowdown".
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) – Preview
(00:03:35) – The AI Hype: How it all started.00:13:51 – Technical ignorance and narcissism produce delusional claims.
(00:19:36) – Media's role in perpetuating AI myths and fake valuations.
(00:24:03) – Is the current AI stock becoming a meme coin pump-and-dump?
(00:26:15) – Jeff's 40-year-old journey through multiple tech and financial bubbles.
(00:35:32) – Why businesses lost their AI investments with a 95% failure rate (MIT Research)?
(00:45:02) – Advice for young entrepreneurs involved in innovations. Don't overhype!
(00:53:32) – Tim's argument why understanding the wider world is critical for effective business tech.
(00:56:01) – Academia's wrong obsession with metrics.
(01:01:04) – Societal impacts and misinformation, and how the AI bubble plays a role.
(01:07:20) – The need for critical thinking for effective innovation, beyond mere numbers.
(01:19:49) – People's disillusionment with AI is getting worse
(01:22:22) – What will happen when the AI bubble bursts, and how bad will it be?
(01:33:31) – What will be the trigger point for the AI bubble burst?
(01:43:36) – The true meaning of an "industrial revolution" and if AI fits the definition.
(01:48:57) – Is the AI bubble killing entrepreneurship?
Episode Notes & Citations:
https://ceoretort.com/podcast/guest/2025/09/08/jeffrey-funk-the-ai-bubble-will-end-in-financial-catastrophe/
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