What Are the Implications if the AI Boom Turns to Bust?

The Tech Policy Press Podcast

This episode considers whether today’s massive AI investment boom reflects real economic fundamentals or an unsustainable bubble, and how a potential crash could reshape AI policy, public sentiment, and narratives about the future that are embraced and advanced not only be Silicon Valley billionaires, but also by politicians and governments. Justin Hendrix is joined by:

• Ryan Cummings, chief of staff at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and coauthor of a recent New York Times opinion on the possibility of an AI bubble;
• Sarah West, co-director of the AI Now Institute, which recently mapped the economic and political power of the AI industry; and
• Brian Merchant, author of the newsletter Blood in the Machine, a journalist in residence at the AI Now Institute, and author of a recent piece in Wired on signals that suggest a bubble.