OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Warns Investors Are 'Overexcited' Even As Microsoft, Meta, Amazon And Google Spend $320 Billion On AI

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Investors are "overexcited" about artificial intelligence even as the world's largest technology companies are expected to spend about $320 billion this year building AI infrastructure, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has warned.

"When bubbles happen, smart people get overexcited about a kernel of truth," Altman told The Verge recently, comparing the current AI boom to the late-1990s dot-com frenzy. He added that some investors may eventually be "burned" as hype fades, but maintained that AI's long-term potential remains enormous.

Altman's comments come as Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL, GOOG)) continue racing to dominate the fast-growing AI industry.

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Tech Giants Keep Spending Big

Microsoft announced in January that the company plans to invest about $80 billion this year in AI-enabled data centers — its largest infrastructure budget to date.

Meanwhile, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Alphabet are also increasing their capital spending. According to Amazon's Q2 earnings report released in July, the company is scaling up its cloud infrastructure for AI-driven services.

Meta said in July that capital expenditures in the range of $66 billion to $72 billion and Alphabet said the same month that continued investment in data-center infrastructure remains a major cost driver. Altogether, analysts estimate total AI-related investments among major tech firms could exceed $320 billion this year.

OpenAI itself continues to expand. On Oct. 6, at its DevDay event in San Francisco, OpenAI introduced new tools that allow developers to integrate ChatGPT into apps and workflows. The event highlighted OpenAI's growing focus on enterprise adoption and partnerships that extend the use of its AI systems across industries.

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Analysts Split On Whether It's A Bubble

The "AI revolution will fuel a tech bull market for the next two to three years at least," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told Fortune, describing this stage as "a 1996 moment, not 1999." While Altman sounded cautious, several analysts see continued opportunity.

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Others, however, are more skeptical. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) CEO David Solomoncautioned that the surge in AI and infrastructure spending could mirror past market excesses.

"I wouldn't be surprised if in the next 12 to 24 months we see a drawdown in equity markets, but that shouldn't be surprising given the run we've had," Solomon said on Oct.3, warning that overheated optimism could trigger a correction.

Likewise, Apollo Global Management Inc. (NYSE:APO) Chief Economist Torsten Sløk wrote in a report for the Apollo Academy that valuations of the 10 largest S&P 500 companies are now higher compared to fundamentals than they were during the dot-com peak.

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This article OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Warns Investors Are 'Overexcited' Even As Microsoft, Meta, Amazon And Google Spend $320 Billion On AI originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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