skip to main content

Bursting of AI bubble poses risk and potential for Europe

Amazon's Jeff Bezos said there was an AI bubble - but it was the 'good' kind that would ultimately lead to useful companies and products
Amazon's Jeff Bezos said there was an AI bubble - but it was the 'good' kind that would ultimately lead to useful companies and products

A bursting of the artificial intelligence bubble would have a knock-on impact on Europe, but there could be some upside for companies here too, according to one markets analyst.

There have been multiple warnings of an AI bubble in the past week.

Yesterday JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon said US stocks were over-valued - and that some investments in AI would inevitably be lost.

It followed a warning from the Bank of England about an AI bubble pushing up US share values, while last week Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said the sector was in the middle of a bubble.

Mr Dimon predicted a correction in US stock values in the next six months to two years, and financial markets commentator Susannah Streeter said such an event would inevitably have an impact on this side of the Atlantic.

"If there is a big slide in the United States it inevitably will cause some contagion," she said. "But let's remember - if you are investing you have to look in the longer term, you have to look at the market ups and downs."

She said there were currently no strong indications that the bubble was ready to burst - though it was clear that investors were beginning to question their exposure to such an event.

"You're still seeing the big stars like Nvidia gain traction on markets... so, for now, it seems the enthusiasm for all things AI is continuing," she said. "But with all of these warnings that are emerging... I do think it's going to lead to more reassessment of portfolios - and we've already been seeing this.

We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

"Institutional investors have been pushing their money elsewhere - we've seen gold rise to record levels," she stated.

That creates an opportunity for Europe, which has been lagging behind the US in attracting investment in recent years.

"There's more appetite for companies to invest in companies in Europe, because people are thinking this is the time to reevaluate and see whether I'm too invested in the US," she said. "Because these tech giants that invest in AI have got huge sways on indices, it's really worth checking out whether or not your portfolio is too heavily skewed."

In his recent comments Jeff Bezos said that the bursting of the AI bubble would not be like the financial crash, but would be more akin to the "good" bubble seen in the dotcom boom.

In other words, while some companies would fail and some investments would be written off, those that survive would be stronger and more useful to end users.

"Look at the dotcom boom and bust - there will also be survivors of any potential storm on financial markets, even within that particular sector... and not all tech companies are created equally," she said.

"Jeff Bezos has been there, done that - because Amazon stock plunged 90% during the dotcom bust - but as we know it's risen by so much ever since then," she said.

"There will be survivors and some of the future stars may still be in production - being dreamed up in a lab waiting to be discovered," she added.