103: The Emerging AI Bubble - Hype, Valuation, and the Risk of 2026

In this episode we turn our gaze to the present and near future. This is the story of how artificial intelligence—once a niche field of academic research and sci-fi speculation—has exploded into the dominant narrative driving global markets. Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, AI has become the single largest force in stock-market gains. Nvidia, the company at the epicenter, has seen its market capitalization surge from under $1 trillion in early 2023 to over $5 trillion by late 2025, making it the world's most valuable publicly traded company for a time. The “Magnificent 7” stocks - Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, and Broadcom - have accounted for a disproportionate share of S&P 500 returns, with AI-related spending projected to reach $2.5 trillion globally in 2026 according to Gartner forecasts.