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CNBC
2 hours ago
- CNBC
OpenAI's Sam Altman sees AI bubble forming as industry spending surges
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman thinks the artificial intelligence market is in a bubble, according to a report from The Verge published Friday. "When bubbles happen, smart people get overexcited about a kernel of truth," Altman told a small group of reporters last week. "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," he was quoted as saying. Altman appeared to compare this dynamic to the infamous dot-com bubble, a stock market crash centered on internet-based companies that led to massive investor enthusiasm during the late 1990s. Between March 2000 and October 2002, the Nasdaq lost nearly 80% of its value after many of these companies failed to generate revenue or profits. His comments add to growing concern among experts and analysts that investment in AI is moving too fast. Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai, Bridgewater Associates' Ray Dalio and Apollo Global Management chief economist Torsten Slok have all raised similar warnings. Last month, Slok stated in a report that he believed the AI bubble of today was, in fact, bigger than the internet bubble, with the top 10 companies in the S&P 500 more overvalued than they were in the 1990s. In an email to CNBC on Monday, Ray Wang, CEO of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research, told CNBC that he thought Altman's comments carry some validity, but that the risks are company-dependent. "From the perspective of broader investment in AI and semiconductors... I don't see it as a bubble. The fundamentals across the supply chain remain strong, and the long-term trajectory of the AI trend supports continued investment," he said. However, he added that there is an increasing amount of speculative capital chasing companies with weaker fundamentals and only perceived potential, which could create pockets of overvaluation. Many fears of an AI bubble had hit a fever pitch this year when Chinese start-up DeepSeek released its open source R1 reasoning model, claiming it had achieved its generative AI large language model for just $6 million, a fraction of the billions being spent by U.S. AI market leaders, including OpenAI. Earlier this month, Altman told CNBC that OpenAI's annual recurring revenue is on track to pass $20 billion this year, but that despite that, it remains unprofitable. The release of OpenAI's latest GPT-5 AI model earlier this month had also been rocky, with some critics complaining that it had a less intuitive feel. This resulted in the company restoring access to legacy GPT-4 models for paying customers. Following the release of the model, Altman has also signaled more caution about some of the AI industry's more bullish predictions. Speaking to CNBC, he said that he thought the term artificial general intelligence, or "AGI," is losing relevance, when asked whether the GPT-5 model moves the world any closer to achieving AGI. AGI refers to the concept of a form of artificial intelligence that can perform any intellectual task that a human can — something that OpenAI has been working towards for years and that Altman previously said could be achieved in the "reasonably close-ish future." Regardless, faith in OpenAI from investors has remained strong this year. CNBC confirmed Friday that the company was preparing to sell around $6 billion in stock as part of a secondary sale that would value it at roughly $500 billion. In March, it had announced a $40 billion funding round at a $300 billion valuation, by far the largest amount ever raised by a private tech company. In The Verge article on Friday, the OpenAI CEO also discussed OpenAI's expansion into consumer hardware, brain-computer interfaces and social media. Altman also said that he expects OpenAI to spend trillions of dollars on its data center buildout in the "not very distant future," and signaled that the company would be interested in buying Chrome if the U.S. government were to force Google to sell it. Asked if he would be CEO of OpenAI in a few years, he was quoted as saying, "I mean, maybe an AI is in three years. That's a long time."
CNBC
3 hours ago
- CNBC
CNBC Daily Open: Trump's 'peace' for Ukraine doesn't seem like what Zelenskyy wants
There was no deal when U.S. President Donald Trump met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday. That was not unexpected. The summit, which was initially arranged to discuss a ceasefire to Moscow's war in Ukraine, was on Tuesday reframed by White House Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt as a "listening exercise" that allowed Trump to get a "better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end." Prior to the summit, analysts were already casting doubt on the talks advancing any real ceasefire in Ukraine. "Let's be clear, Putin does not take Trump seriously," Tina Fordham, founder of Fordham Global Foresight, told CNBC. And the fact that the summit was scheduled — and Putin invited to Alaska, the first time he stepped on U.S. soil in about a decade — was already a "big win" for the Kremlin leader, according to a comment by Richard Portes, head of the economics faculty at the London Business School, before the meeting took place. While no agreement was reached, Trump on Friday described the meeting as "very productive" — and announced the next day that he would be pursuing a "peace agreement" rather than a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. But peace means very different things to the Ukraine, Russia and America. To one, it could be the complete halt of armed warfare and the retreat of foreign troops from its soil. To another, it might seem like acquiring annexed territory. And for some, it might look like a shiny golden coin engraved with the profile of Alfred Nobel, regardless of the prerequisites. Trump calls on Ukraine to 'end the war with Russia.' The U.S. president on Sunday said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy can either stop the conflict or "continue to fight." Putin has agreed that the U.S. and European nations could give Ukraine "Article 5-like" security guarantees, the White House said. OpenAI in share sales talk that would value it at $500 billion. The shares would be sold by current and former employees to investors including SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group and Thrive Capital, according to a source. The Dow Jones Industrial Average outperforms. Major stock indexes ended Friday mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising a fractional 0.08%. Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Monday. China's CSI 300 hit its highest level since October 2024. A trip by U.S. trade officials to India has been called off. The visit, which was expected to take place between Aug. 25 and Aug. 29, will likely be rescheduled, according to Indian news broadcaster NDTV Profit. [PRO] Fedspeak to parse for the week. Minutes for the U.S. Federal Reserve's August meeting come out Wednesday, while Fed Chair Jerome Powell will speak at Jackson Hole, a symposium of economic policy, on Friday. They may give clues on policy path. This Asian data center hub is grappling with the massive costs of AI: energy and water Johor, a state at the southern tip of Malaysia, has quietly become one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing data center hubs amid the heightened compute demands of AI. Though that has created new economic opportunities and jobs, there are signs the industry is pushing the limits of the state's energy capacity and natural resources, with officials slowing approvals for new projects.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Tengku Zafrul: Malaysia controlling stream of rare earth in bid to keep value, keeping both US and China at bay
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 — Malaysia is banning exports of unprocessed rare earths while at the same time attempting to court downstream investment to retain their value added at home, Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Aziz said. Speaking in an interview with US-based CNBC's 'Squawk Box Asia', Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia has discussed its rare-earth strategy with both Washington and Beijing during broader negotiations. 'Today, we engage both sides. And to be fair, both China and US have never said that you can't supply to the other, right? You can't not do business with the other,' he said. He also said that both countries have reminded Malaysia that it cannot have two different standards on rare earth exports. 'So we have to be consistent, to be neutral. You have to consider, we can't have policies which differentiates our relationship with one party to the other, to one country to another. 'So that's, I think, key. Once you do that, then it's very hard to defend that neutrality position,' he added. Tengku Zafrul pointed to the moratorium on rare earth elements exports, highlighting Australian miners Lynas as among firms operating under rules that permit exports after processing. 'So what we are doing now is we're saying that, look, we invite all companies to come to Malaysia and to be part of the supply chain to invest in the downstream activities of rare earth, and then we can then export the value-add of those right now,' he said. Tengku Zafrul argued the approach maximises economic spillovers and strengthens the case for keeping processing domestic. He also framed the policy as a way to anchor higher-value activity in Malaysia while staying open to all buyers under equal rules. Earlier this month, Tengku Zafrul announced that Malaysia will no longer allow the export of raw rare earth minerals, in a move to promote local downstream development. Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia remains open to foreign investment, but it must involve local processing, job creation, and technology transfer.
