AI’s consumer bubble is masking a much stronger business case
The AI bubble may be real, but Australia should focus on where the business case is already starting to stack up.
OpenAI’s audited accounts were leaked last week, and the headline figures make for tough reading. Last year, the company spent USD34 billion and booked revenue of just over USD13 billion.
That has helped provide some context for this week’s correction in SpaceX shares and the temporary market shutdown of the South Korean exchange, after memory makers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics suffered sharp pullbacks.
Investors are asking whether there is an AI bubble, how large it is and when it will pop. Policymakers are asking the same question, as well as how far any bubble should affect the level of policy support the industry receives.
I’m not a fund manager. But I do know that Anthropic, which has just a sliver of OpenAI’s much-vaunted consumer reach but far better penetration in the business market, is reportedly expecting to celebrate its first profitable quarter. That points to a two-speed economy running through the AI sector — consumer and business — and it should shape Australia’s approach.
