OpenAI CEO Sam Altman believes the artificial intelligence market is in a bubble, according to a report by The Verge, which was published on August 15, 2025.
As CNBC reports, Altman appears to have compared the dynamics of AI growth to the infamous dot-com bubble — the stock market crash that was sparked by internet companies and led to mass investor enthusiasm in the late 1990s.
"Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI? My opinion is yes. Is AI the most important thing to happen in a very long time? My opinion is also yes," said the CEO of OpenAI.
His comments add to concerns among experts and analysts that AI investment is growing too quickly. Similar warnings have been voiced by Alibaba co-founder Joseph Tsai, Bridgewater Associates' Ray Dalio and Apollo Global Management's chief economist Thorsten Slok.
Ray Wang, director of semiconductor, supply chain and emerging technology research at Futurum Group, said he thought Altman's comments had some validity, but the risks depended on the specific company.
"From a broader perspective of investment in AI and semiconductors, I don't see this as a bubble. Fundamentals across the supply chain remain strong, and the long-term trajectory of the AI trend supports further investment," the expert said.
He also added that there is a growing amount of speculative capital chasing companies with weaker fundamentals and only perceived potential, which could create pockets of overvaluation.
Sam Altman previously told the publication that OpenAI's annual revenue in 2025 will likely exceed $20 billion, but despite this, the company remains unprofitable.
In a recent article for The Verge, the OpenAI CEO also reportedly talked about the expansion of artificial intelligence into consumer hardware, brain-computer interfaces, and social media.
Sam Altman also reported that OpenAI is going to spend trillions of dollars building its data center in the "near future," and made it clear that the company would be interested in acquiring Chrome if the US government forces Google to sell the browser.
As we previously reported, the State of AI in Business 2025 report, published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says that artificial intelligence has not yet led to mass layoffs in the United States, but is increasingly displacing work that companies outsource or outsource overseas. The researchers found that the impact of AI is felt most by business process outsourcers and external agencies, while employees at companies may not yet be worried about their jobs.
Recall that OpenAI recently announced an update to GPT-5, which should make the model "warmer and friendlier." The company explained that the changes will be aimed at making users feel more comfortable when interacting with AI. This move was a response to criticism after the model was launched. Some users noted that the previous GPT-4o seemed more comfortable and pleasant to communicate with.
Read also: OpenAI CEO wants to invest in a startup that will compete with Neuralink