AI's trillion-dollar bet may not pay off

Artificial intelligence may prove to be a poor investment, as doubts grow over whether trillions in infrastructure spending will yield sufficient returns, with major AI firms already suffering significant market value losses. CoreWeave, a leading AI infrastructure provider, lost about a quarter of its market value due to concerns over its $50 billion debt burden, while SoftBank and major tech companies face shifting investor sentiment over who will ultimately pay for data centres. Silicon Valley's "build it and they will come" assumption is being challenged, with economists questioning whether AI demand will only materialize at scale if the product becomes nearly free, potentially redistributing wealth without expanding the overall economic pie.