Are we repeating the Dot-Com bubble?

Excellent question — and one that many economists, investors, and technologists are actively debating right now.

Let’s unpack it carefully 👇

💭 Short answer:

AI has some “bubble-like” characteristics, but it’s not exactly like the dot-com bubble — at least not yet.

Massive Hype
- Just like “.com” was the buzzword of the late 1990s, “AI” is today’s magic term.
- Companies are adding “AI” to their names or marketing materials to attract investment — sometimes without meaningful technology behind it.
Skyrocketing Valuations
- AI startups are getting billion-dollar valuations with limited revenue or proven profitability.
- Big tech stocks (like NVIDIA, Microsoft, and OpenAI’s ecosystem) have surged largely on AI excitement — similar to how Cisco, Yahoo!, and Amazon rose in 1999.
Speculative Investment
- Venture capital and corporate investors are pouring huge sums into AI projects — some of which may never generate returns.
- This echoes the speculative frenzy of the dot-com era.

Real Adoption & Value Creation
- Unlike many dot-com startups that had no working product, today’s AI is already producing tangible value:
  - Automating workflows
  - Enhancing productivity
  - Powering consumer products (ChatGPT, Copilot, Midjourney, etc.)
- AI models are being used across medicine, finance, logistics, and creative industries.
Infrastructure Is Ready
- In the 1990s, the internet was new and unreliable.
- Today, global data infrastructure, cloud computing, and advanced chips make AI scalable and functional at a commercial level.
Sustainable Revenue Streams (for some)
- Companies like NVIDIA and Microsoft are earning real profits from AI services and hardware.
- That wasn’t the case for most dot-com companies.

Feature	Dot-Com Bubble (1995–2002)	AI Boom (2016–Present)
Core Technology	Internet & E-commerce	Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
Trigger Event	Public internet access & cheap PCs	Breakthroughs in large language models (GPT, BERT) & cloud computing
Peak Hype Period	1998–2000	2023–2025
Investment Pattern	Venture capital and IPOs in .com startups	Massive VC funding and AI infrastructure (chips, cloud, models)
Common Trend	Companies added “.com” to names to attract funding	Companies adding “AI” or “GenAI” to names for visibility
Valuation Surge	NASDAQ up 400% by 2000	AI-related stocks (NVIDIA, MSFT) at record highs by 2025
Infrastructure Readiness	Weak — slow internet, early hardware	Strong — cloud, GPUs, big data
Profitability of Startups	Mostly unprofitable	Mixed — some highly profitable, some speculative
Collapse Moment	Burst in 2000–2002	Yet to come (possible correction expected)
Long-Term Winners	Amazon, Google, eBay	OpenAI, NVIDIA, Microsoft (potentially)
Core Lesson	Hype fades, innovation remains	Sustainable business > speculation

2016: DeepMind’s AlphaGo beats the world Go champion — a symbolic AI breakthrough.
2018: Introduction of BERT and GPT models revolutionizes natural language processing.
2020: AI adoption accelerates in healthcare, finance, and marketing.
2022: ChatGPT launches — AI goes mainstream.
2023: Generative AI hype explodes; startups and major tech firms race to integrate AI.
2024–2025: AI stock valuations soar; governments begin regulating AI; experts warn of a possible correction.

👉 Partly, yes — but not entirely.

We may be in an AI investment bubble — where valuations exceed realistic expectations — but AI as a technology is real and transformative.

What’s likely:

Some overvalued startups will collapse (like Pets.com did in 2000).
But the survivors will reshape the global economy — just as Amazon and Google did after the dot-com crash.

Aspect	Dot-Com Bubble	AI Boom
Core Technology	Internet	Artificial Intelligence
Hype Level	Extreme	High
Real Utility	Limited early on	Already substantial
Valuations	Mostly speculative	Mixed — some justified
Survivors	Amazon, Google	NVIDIA, OpenAI, Microsoft?
Outcome	Massive crash, long-term transformation	Possible correction, lasting impact

👉 Partly, yes — but not entirely.

We may be in an AI investment bubble — where valuations exceed realistic expectations — but AI as a technology is real and transformative.

What’s likely:

Some overvalued startups will collapse (like Pets.com did in 2000).
But the survivors will reshape the global economy — just as Amazon and Google did after the dot-com crash.