I was there for the dot-com burst. Here's how the AI bubble will pop.

Getty Images; Tyler Le/BI As often happens in the early buildout of a new technology, a fierce argument is raging about whether the AI spending boom is a rational investment or a speculative bubble . The answer, very likely, is… both. AI will radically change the economy and society — just as the internet, computers, cars, trains, canals, electricity, and other technologies did. And… Much (most?) of the money being invested right now will probably be lost — just as much of the money invested early in the prior booms was. The early AI boom will likely end the way most prior eras have ended — with a gigantic bust that clobbers the first wave of companies and investors, followed by a long boom that helps build huge new companies and transforms the way we live. Personally, I hope there's never an AI bust.