back to article Bank of England smells hint of dotcom bubble 2.0 in AI froth

The Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee has warned of the dangers of a sudden correction in the financial markets, owing to the value of tech and AI stocks, and has compared the risks to the dotcom bubble. As hundreds of billions of dollars flow into AI infrastructure building, the UK's central bank said: "On a number …

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  1. John Miles

    They probably want something

    To clear their sinuses if they've taken this long to realise ;)

    1. elsergiovolador Silver badge

      Re: They probably want something

      cock-AI-ne.

    2. Mishak Silver badge

      Quite

      It has been obvious since around day 1 that a significant amount of the money being put in to AI is not going to come back out...

      1. Tron Silver badge

        Re: Quite

        Bubbles and Ponzi schemes have an inherent cap. The tech sector have changed tactics several times to keep inflating the bubble, but the numbers are now so silly and the tech so clearly unfit for purpose. They can't be far away from being rumbled.

        I'm sure the people behind this have covered themselves so they don't lose their shirts when this scams fails. You have to wonder who will get taken down by it.

        We need some sort of guide to companies and sectors that have put money in and will lose it, those that have exit strategies, and those that might escape with something.

        The 'promises' to build data centres and the like will have cancel clauses. Some places will get some giant warehouses coming on to the real estate market.

        This is why you never gamble/invest money you cannot afford to lose, and why you do your own due diligence.

        The bubble bursting would cover up a lot of damage that Trump has done to the US economy, so it would be convenient for him.

        1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

          Re: Quite

          Bubbles and Ponzi schemes have an inherent cap. The tech sector have changed tactics several times to keep inflating the bubble, but the numbers are now so silly and the tech so clearly unfit for purpose. They can't be far away from being rumbled.

          I'm sure the people behind this have covered themselves so they don't lose their shirts when this scams fails. You have to wonder who will get taken down by it. .... Tron

          Methinks it is maybe the banks that are realising they are set to tumble and take a massive series of hits if they plan to do any rumbling and ramblings in the jungles of AI and IT not according to the wishes of AI and IT.

          And isn’t that a sweet bitter justice servered ..... and well deserved it be too.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: They probably want something

      Some hubris combined with hypocrisy

      https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/research/fintech/artificial-intelligence-consortium

      https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/governance-and-funding/staff-codes-and-policies/the-banks-ai-strategy

    4. tiggity Silver badge

      Re: They probably want something

      Indeed, I'm sure over 99% of reg readers could have told them about the AI bubble a long time ago.

  2. Brl4n

    Still haven't seen a useful example AI that justifies its cost.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I have seen some very compelling anti fraud cases where the models can understand all sorts of receipts/invoices and such and then flag issues. Huge return on investment. I have also seen a 100 chat bots that are a glorified search engine…

      1. Roland6 Silver badge

        I expect those anti fraud systems use discrete technologies and their system designers didn’t feel the need to sprinkle “AI” fairy dust over everything to obfuscate matters.

        Just like the designers of this system: ” Dogs and drones join battle against eight-toothed beetle threatening forests”

        1. Mike 137 Silver badge

          "AI" is not one thing

          There are now many genuine and useful AI tools (advanced descendents of what used to be called 'expert systems') but they're all one truck horses, each dedicated to solving one specific problem. There's no such thing as generalised AI and LLMs don't really have any kind of intelligence anyway (they're just glorified statistical auto-complete engines with huge data sets to draw on) but they're purported by their promoters to have "generalised intelligence" in that you can ask them any question and get a banal answer to it (whether nonsense or not). This is promotional bullshit, not reality -- indeed it's an open question whether LLMs can legitimately be classed as AI at all. So either the bubble will either burst or the market will eventually lose interest after it's been well fleeced.

      2. Random as if !

        Gone, like tears in the rain ....

    2. elsergiovolador Silver badge

      You have not seen shareholders yachts? From their perspective, AI is the next best thing since P&L glitter

    3. MisterHappy

      There are a few medical AI systems that are being used for cancer screening & diagnostic processes. These are 'trained' on what to look for and then, IIRC, the 'flag' rate is set at around 5% so that the slightest indication is checked by a real person. It has increased throughput and reduced diagnostic times.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        So good old image processing that Medicine, NASA, Astronomers. Military and Spy Agencies have been doing since photography invented.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        AC for obvious reasons.

        A long time ago I worked on system for analysing slide histology images (large, hi res images using what was (at the time) cutting edge slide scanning tech early version of this product line) for cancer & flagging images to re-investigate by a human (idea was to process those flagged as no concern on initial human assessment i.e. system was not for "primary diagnosis", it was to act as a backup).

        Humans can make mistakes - fatigue, not necessarily checking all of an image at appropriate zoom level & so missing something - slide analysis is gruelling in terms of concentration (histologists we worked with on developing it would typically work in bursts on slide analysis with decent breaks as it was a known problem*)

        This was done in conjunction with oncologists, they were telling us what to look out for and we produced the code to highlight it (different algorithms for different tissue types** & stain types - and a few tweakable parameters as things like stain intensity varied so adjusting algorithms for that could reduce false positives (or negatives)).

        This was an ongoing process - developing the software and the oncologists would assess the performance.

        So the tech is long established.

        Would be interesting to see how an AI fares compared to the tech of years ago

        * Interesting to see if histologists are under more pressure these days, as likely pen pushers will fail to grasp that "productivity" needs to be quite low if you to avoid a high error rate - do not want a high error rate when checking for cancerous / pre-cancerous cells (pre cancerous spotting is great as can get interventions before cancer takes off properly & also easiest to miss as more subtle changes / less cells affected).

        ** for some tissue types had multiple algorithms that ran e.g. breast tissue is very variable in amount of adipose (so ratio of cells / to fat), whether milk ducts / glands included in the sample etc. So in those cases ran initial scan on image (at lower "zoom") to identify "structural features" of that image to apply appropriate algorithm.

        Although algorithms for various tissue types, main focus was on breast tissue as taht was what many biopsies were taken for (& an area with funding available at the time).

  3. IGnatius T Foobar !

    Ya think?

    It took a bank this long to realize that the AI market is in bubble mode? The rest of us figured it out a long time ago. It has the exact vibe of the dot com bubble. Hopefully it pops soon and we can get back to reality.

    1. NapTime ForTruth

      Re: Ya think?

      The banks knew, as did a number of savvy investors. The game is to get in early, pump the hype, ride the rise, and cash out before the bubble bursts.

      It was never about the technology, it was a grift. It was always about selling volumetric tulip futures to rubes.

  4. BartyFartsLast Silver badge

    Here we go!!

    *grabs popcorn, soda and slips 3d glasses on*

  5. David M

    Demand?

    "...Bain & Company estimates spending of $500 billion a year will be needed to meet demand..."

    Is this real demand, or hypothetical demand?

  6. IGotOut Silver badge

    There's not even that much money

    . Both AMD and Nvidia have given "money" on condition they spend the a lot of that "money" buy their stock.

    All the likes of OpenAI have to do is spend billions of Dollars they don't actually have building bit barns. Those same bit barn builders equally don't have any money to build them, so have taken on massive debts to finance those same projects.

    Oh and did I forget to mention OpenAI has less than 3 months to go public (a thing it's unlikely to manage), before a huge chunk of SoftBank's "money" disappears? BTW, this is the same SoftBank that doesn't actually have the funds to pay OpenAI all the money it's promised?

    It's just a massive Ponzi scheme built on a mud mountain of lies and debt.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: There's not even that much money

      "OpenAI has less than 3 months to go public"

      Except it doesn't.

      The deadline is end of 2026.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: There's not even that much money

        So it’s a headlong dash for IPO before the blow-out then.

  7. ComicalEngineer Silver badge

    I have some tulips

    Lots of lovely tulips. And some shares in South Sea Island trade...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sea_Company

    Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I have some tulips

      People's pensions are invested in the AI tulips.

      And most people take no action to manage their pensions.

      They're not forgetting history, they're actively choosing to repeat history by burying their heads in the sand.

      1. Random as if !

        Re: I have some tulips

        Actually I have just taken my pension at 55, I figure I'll get a better return now for the next 10 years than when the AU castle melts and we get pennies for our invested pounds, and Kier farmer has some data centres to sell

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I have some tulips

        If anyone is daft enough to invest in AI now after the boat has almost sailed, then for their own good I think they deserve to wait for retirement just a little longer, I'd also get a new IFA!

        My IFA warned me about 9 months ago to pull back on my US investments, said he has a gut feeling something nasty is in the wind around the "mag 7" hype and all that the AI stuff is only going to exacerbate the fallout when it comes late 2025/early 2026.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I have some tulips

          Pretty much any investment where Joe Public gets invited is long after big money/old money wants to exit with the easy returns.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I have some tulips

      Do you have some Darien Scheme shares too ?? Scotland still suffering from that 300 years later.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darien_scheme

      Still no complete Trans-Americas highway/rail even now.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So what's plan B then?

    Who here is investing in alternatives?

    Which alternatives?

    Or do you (mistakenly) believe you can time the market and cash in just before the bottom faults out of it?

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So what's plan B then?

      Who here is investing in alternatives?

      Which alternatives?

      Actually, I invested in Rolls Royce - an actual company which makes actual things which actual people actually buy. Actually.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So what's plan B then?

        "Actually, I invested in Rolls Royce"

        Are you implying your investment in a company that is making actual SMRs to power actual AI data centers will somehow be immune to an AI stock price crash?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So what's plan B then?

      Lowered my exposure to the US about a monht ago, switched a large chunk over to gold and silver for a the time being. Once the mag-7/AI boil bursts then I might go back if the US markets start hosting proper companies that make physical stuff instead of shovelling bullshit!

  9. O'Reg Inalsin Silver badge

    For some applications, hallucinations don't actually affect existing quality

    Oct. 7 - Deloitte will begin using AnthropicAI's Claude assistant for hundreds of thousands of its global employees. - The global professional service giant Deloitte announced Monday that more than 470,000 of its workers around the world will gain access to Anthropic's artificial intelligence assistant Claude in San Francisco-based Anthropic's biggest deployment to date.

    Oct. 7 - Deloitte’s member firm in Australia will pay the government a partial refund for a $290,000 report that contained alleged AI-generated errors, including references to non-existent academic research papers and a fabricated quote from a federal court judgment. The report was originally published on the Australian government’s Department of Employment and Workplace Relations website in July. A revised version was quietly published on Friday after Sydney University researcher of health and welfare law Chris Rudge said he alerted media outlets that the report was “full of fabricated references. Deloitte reviewed the 237-page report and “confirmed some footnotes and references were incorrect,” the department said in a statement Tuesday.

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: For some applications, hallucinations don't actually affect existing quality

      Deloitte eventually swapped out the fake references with other real references, but somehow the conclusions which were based on the references remained exactly the same. After all, the department has paid Deloitte good money for these conclusions, the rest is just padding...

      1. Mike 137 Silver badge

        Re: For some applications, hallucinations don't actually affect existing quality

        That's coz the references were created after the conclusions, (not the conclusions based on the references). This is now a standard approach used by undergraduates who don't like reading papers, so it's possible that the report was written by an intern.

        1. tiggity Silver badge

          Re: For some applications, hallucinations don't actually affect existing quality

          @Mike 137

          "it's possible that the report was written by an intern"

          or possible what used to be intern grunt work is now AI work

          ..They used to love charging top dollar rate for their "best consultants" & then getting interns to do bulk of the work, so cost cutting / profit increasing logical next step is to replace some intern tasks with AI.

  10. Random as if !

    Smithers, correct that verb before press

    "should expectations around the impact of AI become less optimistic"

    Change to "when" thanks dear boy

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Careful

    with that pin Eugene…

    1. Mishak Silver badge

      Re: Careful

      It causes condensation.

      Oh, no, that was a "spliff".

      A bonus point to anyone who gets the reference ;-)

      1. Zack Mollusc

        Re: Careful

        Tempus Fugit ?

      2. Laura Kerr

        Re: It causes condensation.

        Every Saturday I get the Chigley skins...

        1. Mishak Silver badge
          Pint

          Re: It causes condensation.

          One point awarded ;-)

      3. tiggity Silver badge

        Re: Careful

        @Mishak

        A shame a lot of the stuff from 1st 2 albums is not performed live that much these days.

        As someone of the age where (a later track & a great song) "Terminus" and (again later) album title "The Voltarol Years" are more & more appropriate, then I do appreciate a live performance of the (arguably "lower quality") but more unabashed out & out fun early HMHB songs.

  12. Northern Lad
    FAIL

    Let The Bubble Burst!

    Sooner the better. If we are left with AI's that can detect Cancers - Absolutely brilliant, If AI is to be forced on us then a couple of good ones are better than dozens that are not fit for purpose. (Hoping Co-pilot falls into the second group. That would be so funny, MS should have learnt from Cortana - no pun intended).

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      Re: Let The Bubble Burst!

      It's less a bubble, more like a boil that needs lancing for everyone's good!

  13. codejunky Silver badge

    Hmm

    The AI bubble may still be inflating but gold is also rising fast. Although that probably shows the lack of confidence in governments around the world

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Hmm

      The bank of England that sold all its Gold reserves at the lowest Gold price for a generation

      1. codejunky Silver badge
        Unhappy

        Re: Hmm

        @Yet Another Anonymous coward

        "The bank of England that sold all its Gold reserves at the lowest Gold price for a generation"

        Had I the money and knowledge I have now...

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