Spit-Shining the AI Bubble

Play Close Attention to the AI Shoeshiners

Legend has it, that John D. Rockefeller was getting his shoe shined by a little boy just before the Great Depression. While his expensive shoes were being polished, the little boy kept blabbering on about all the stocks Rockefeller should buy.

It was at this exact moment Rockefeller realized he had to get out of the stock market. When your shoeshiner talks more about stocks than the weather, it’s time to bail.

After his shoes were shining like mirrors, he immediately sold his stocks. As a result of his swift action, most of his fortune survived the Great Depression.

He correctly reasoned that there must be a bubble going on. If even your shoe shining boy is obsessed with the stock market and discussing it like it's more important than anything else going on, there must be a bubble.

The same is happening with AI right now. We've got a whole lot of shoe shiners who suddenly became AI experts overnight.

It's pretty obvious we are in a big bubble, with CEOs trying up to hype up the bubble further with ridiculous claims like “Developers being replaced by AI”, or “X% of all their work being done by AI”, or “AGI will happen in a few years.”

Now, the question to ask becomes:

Will the bubble pop OR will AI accelerate so fast it becomes great before the bubble can pop?

Time will tell. But until then, please remember Rockefeller.

When all the shoe shiners are giving you AI advice, that's the moment we're all in deep trouble.

Listen to the shoe shiners to determine the size of the bubble, but don't pay attention to their advice on AI.