Shocking AI Bubble Warning Sam Altman Predicts Winners and Losers

Key Points

• AI Bubble Alert Sam Altman Predicts Winners and Losers
• Says irrational valuations will lead to massive losses
• Compares current hype to the 90s dot-com bubble
• OpenAI still plans to spend trillions on data centers

In a rare and bold admission, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has openly stated that the AI industry is in a bubble.

Speaking during a wide-ranging interview on August 15, Altman compared the current frenzy around AI to the dot-com boom and bust of the 1990s.

“When bubbles happen, smart people get overexcited about a kernel of truth,” said Altman, pointing out that while AI is a transformative technology, the current investment climate is anything but rational.

be Sam Altman
openai gonna spend TRILLIONS on datacenters soon

We have better models and no, you can’t see them lmao

“Are we in an AI bubble?”
Altman: My opinion is YES. pic.twitter.com/okmnFhVvi4

— NIK (@ns123abc) August 15, 2025

He didn’t mince words. According to Altman, investors are throwing massive amounts of money at unproven startups. Some of these companies, he noted, have little more than “three people and an idea”,  yet they’re attracting billions in funding.

This is reflected in recent news, where companies like Cohere have seen their valuation soar to $6.8B with backing from giants like AMD,  despite fierce competition and few commercial wins.

Altman warns that “someone’s going to get burned,” adding that we’re already seeing signs of unsustainable valuations.

This follows a year where multiple AI startups with OpenAI connections,  like Safe Superintelligence and Thinking Machines, raised eye-popping amounts of capital, often without a clear product or path to revenue.

Altman suggests we may be in an AI bubble, via @Bloomberg https://t.co/6rrwQf1eLA pic.twitter.com/lXIgbZ8Ydc

— Markets & Mayhem 🤖 (@Mayhem4Markets) August 15, 2025

At the same time, controversies like the Grok AI scandals at xAI and Meta’s leaked AI moderation rules are casting a shadow on the governance and safety of AI systems being rapidly rolled out.

Trillions planned in AI despite market hype

Despite his skepticism about the current hype cycle, Altman made it clear that OpenAI is not hitting the brakes. It’s the opposite.

“You should expect OpenAI to spend trillions of dollars on data center construction in the not very distant future,” he revealed. That’s a huge signal to the market: while many AI companies may fall when the bubble bursts, OpenAI expects to be one of the survivors,  possibly even a long-term winner.

Altman’s view is nuanced. Yes, the bubble could burst and wipe out billions in investor money. But on the other hand, he believes that the long-term impact of AI on the global economy will be a massive net positive.

Sam Altman just made a sobering prediction. Namely, AI is currently in a bubble phase.

The era of ‘throw money at it and see what sticks’ is over. Now, it’s about strategy, tangible ROI, and building a foundation that will survive the inevitable shakeout.

This was always true. pic.twitter.com/cJXOAEKigD

— Rupert Breheny (@rupertbreheny) August 17, 2025

“Someone is going to lose a phenomenal amount of money. We don’t know who, and a lot of people are going to make a phenomenal amount of money,” he said.

This type of boom-and-bust behavior, according to Altman, is part of how innovation economies work.

And while the bubble brings hype, it’s also driving incredible user growth. For example, the ChatGPT mobile app recently topped $25M in monthly revenue, proving there’s real demand even if monetization remains tricky for many.

Altman admits AI is a bubble.

AI investors are being led into spending a projected 7-10 trillion on data centres in the next decade.

But consider OpenAI’s Return On Investment. Only 0.92% of GPT users pay subscription & 99.08% use it for free.

This bubble will burst. pic.twitter.com/1C6B56G72p

— Ewan Morrison (@MrEwanMorrison) August 18, 2025

Meanwhile, OpenAI continues, to iterate. After facing criticism, the latest GPT-5 update introduced major changes that caught users off guard — showing the tech is still evolving rapidly.

Echoes of the dot-com era

Altman’s comparison to the dot-com bubble is worth noting. In the 90s, internet companies with no real revenue soared in value, only to crash around 2000.

But the internet itself didn’t die; it matured. Out of that wreckage came Amazon, Google, and the modern web.

Altman seems to be betting that AI will follow a similar path. The current AI bubble may lead to pain and disillusionment, but the underlying technology is real, valuable, and here to stay.

Sam Altman says ‘yes,’ AI is in a bubble | Emma Roth, The Verge

‘When bubbles happen, smart people get overexcited about a kernel of truth.’

As economists speculate whether the stock market is in an AI bubble that could soon burst, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has just admitted to… pic.twitter.com/Y8nxgZDGvS

— Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) August 16, 2025

This perspective should serve as both a warning and an opportunity. For investors, it’s a reminder not to get swept up in the hype.

For builders and developers, it’s a signal that long-term thinking and real-world application will eventually win out.

Who should be watching this?

• Investors: Tread carefully. Don’t fall for startups with big promises and no track record.

• Entrepreneurs: Focus on building useful products, not chasing hype.

• Developers: Learn and innovate, but know the landscape may shift rapidly.

• Everyone else: Expect big changes and big drama in the AI world in the coming years.

As the dust settles, the companies that are solving real problems will survive. The rest? History has already shown us what happens.