The AI Bubble Is No Ordinary Bubble

The AI bubble is no ordinary bubble, according to The Atlantic's Annie Lowrey, who cites Sam Altman and the International Monetary Fund warning that it poses a significant risk to financial stability. Hyper-rich corporations are fueling the bubble amid fairly expensive credit, which may make it less fragile and longer lasting but not less painful when it bursts.

Annie Lowrey https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/07/ai-economy-stock-market/688004/ : “No less an authority than Sam Altman is arguing that we are in an AI bubble. The International Monetary Fund is citing it as a significant risk to financial stability and warning about what might happen when it bursts: diminished investment, tighter credit, reduced consumption, disrupted trade flows.” “That’s pretty much what happens when any bubble pops, as a Dutch tulip obsessive could have told you in 1637 or a bitcoin evangelist could have told you in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2018, or 2022. Yet the AI bubble is no ordinary bubble. Hyper-rich corporations are stoking it, rather than kitchen-table investors. They’re blowing it up when credit is fairly expensive, not dirt cheap. That might make the bubble less fragile and longer lasting than those of the past. But it won’t make it any less painful when it pops.” Save to Favorites ?wpfpaction=add&postid=2003617