AI’s Biggest Skeptic Sees a Bubble episode artwork

EPISODE · Nov 21, 2025 · 52 MIN

AI’s Biggest Skeptic Sees a Bubble

from The World Unpacked · host Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

The AI boom is the biggest investment mania in decades, channeling trillions of dollars into data center infrastructure.  If investors bet right, they may usher in technological breakthroughs that produce vast wealth.  If they’re wrong, they could crash the U.S. stock market, trigger a recession, and spread financial contagion globally.Ed Zitron was among the first to call AI a bubble.  His unsparing deep dives into AI finances are must-reads, even for his critics.  In a spirited back-and-forth on The World Unpacked, Ed and host Jon Bateman debate Wall Street’s “unhealthy relationship” with Nvidia, if China has its own AI bubble, and whether ChatGPT should give tax advice.Find the episode transcript and streaming audio, and get the show direct to your inbox, here: https://carnegieendowment.org/podcasts/the-world-unpacked/ais-biggest-skeptic-sees-a-bubble? Follow Jon on X: https://x.com/JonKBateman   

Author, podcaster, publicist, and one of AI's biggest critics joins The World Unpacked to discuss the AI bubble and his own research into AI finances with Jon Bateman. Before his PR career, Zitron was a games journalist in London. He’s authored two books on PR: This Is How You Pitch and Fire Your Publicist.

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AI’s Biggest Skeptic Sees a Bubble

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The AI boom is the biggest investment mania in decades, channeling trillions of dollars into data center infrastructure.  If investors bet right, they may usher in technological breakthroughs that produce vast wealth.  If they’re wrong, they could...

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