The AI Bubble Is a Game of Chicken

Are you familiar with the game of chicken? It is a game where the first one who blinks, steers off to avoid a collision, or admits failure loses. Some of us are familiar with the dysfunction that is called “schedule chicken”, where everyone knowingly agrees to insane, completely unreasonable, and utterly impossible deadlines with the goal of not being the first one to admit they can’t make it. The second goal is to pile blame onto the first one who blinked, say they were a dependency, and the sole reason you can’t make the impossible deadline.

This is a convoluted and ridiculous dysfunction that is very common in large corporations. A higher-level leader usually causes this dysfunction by demanding that everyone be a “yes-man” or “yes-woman.” And if you don’t play along, you are considered shortsighted, not a team player, and are asking for a constructive discharge.

The current AI Bubble is just a variation of one of these games of chicken. CEOs with a pulse and a loose connection to AI are all playing along. I was going to make a joke that the only thing that isn’t “powered by AI” is cattle feed.

https://www.wlj.net/ai-system-for-cattle-feeding-launched/ Too late. Moo-ving on…

CEOs are playing along because everyone else is doing it; they want to be considered “visionary”, they are taking the .00001% chance it isn’t a bubble, FOMO for an increase of their equity values, and afraid of being treated like Tim Cook.

Investors keep piling in because fundamentals no longer matter. If they don’t play along, they lose. A serious case of FOMO.

They will win until the first loser loses. Then we all lose, and they will point fingers at who failed first.

We then get to relive it through the magic of streaming, with a 12-part series starring Jesse Eisenberg and Christian Bale.

I am sure there is another version of this post that could be called, “The AI Bubble is Russian Roulette.”

I think the official name for this game should be "Bubble Chicken." Not to be confused with Steve's Lava Chicken which I hear is delicious.