Hey, Alberto here! 👋 I publish long-form AI analysis covering culture, philosophy, and business. Paid subscribers get Monday how-to guides and Friday news commentary. If you’d like to become a paid sub, here’s a button for that:
I’m back from Switzerland! I have a ton of things to tell you and a pretty considerable backlog of articles ready to go. I’ll get back to the weekly guides and reviews as I find the time (I’m covering pretty much everything in the weekly essays). Today, I bring you part two of one of my favorite formats: 11 charts that show the side of the AI boom the industry would rather you didn’t know.
In May, I wrote a chart compilation piece to capture the less press-friendly side of the AI industry. I’ve done it again with less-known charts and updated data.
For this second part, I’ve compiled another 11 charts focusing on the financial and economic side of AI. Together, they reveal the shape of a potential bubble. Rumors about the AI bubble peaked in late 2025 and then waned, but they’ve been gaining traction again lately.
These charts are a good way to see that results on paper (e.g., how good GPT-6 is on benchmarks) do not necessarily translate into results in the real world, at least not right away. And that an industry can fall amid its greatest successes. For all the mainstream alarm over the chance that AI might end up killing us, the ultimate test is reality, and AI is still failing it.
The format is the same as in part one, intended for a quick digestion: title, chart, one-liner explanation with source. In 5 minutes, you’ll learn more about the state of AI than you would in months of industry-grade marketing.
Here’s the outline:
THE TOP 10 COMPANIES ARE 40% OF THE S&P 500
DATACENTER CANCELLATIONS HIT A RECORD
INVESTOR LEVERAGE IS AT A HISTORIC EXTREME
MARKET CAP IS UP FOR AI COMPANIES BUT NOT MUCH ELSE
THE VALUATION AS A MULTIPLE OF REVENUE OF AI LABS IS BIG
HEDGE FUNDS ARE SELLING SEMICONDUCTOR STOCKS
THE AI BOOM COMPARED TO PAST BOOM-BUST CYCLES
STRONG DECLINE OF AI HYPERSCALER FREE CASH FLOW
AI SUBSCRIPTIONS CAN BE HEAVILY SUBSIDIZED FOR POWER USERS
HYPERSCALER CAPEX TO SURPASS $1 TRILLION BY 2027
OUTPUT IS NOT OUTCOME: TOKENS VS. LABOR PRODUCTIVITY