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AI’s race to transform the world before the money runs out

Assumptions about future profits are driving the AI rush, but economists say there is little evidence to suggest the technology is sure to deliver.

AI’s race to transform the world before the money runs out

In a surge of investment unprecedented in modern history, artificial intelligence (AI) is being embraced as the next great technological revolution, even surpassing the historical impact of railways and the internet. PwC estimates that global spending on data centers could reach a staggering $30 trillion by 2050, almost equivalent to the total value of U.S. Treasuries outstanding.

This investment dwarfs the amounts poured into previous technological booms, such as railroads or the dotcom era, even when accounting for inflation.

Anthropic, one of the prominent players in the AI race, has announced plans to invest a mind-boggling $518 billion in the years to come. This figure, disclosed in the company's IPO prospectus, is more than a hundred times greater than Anthropic's projected revenue for 2025. The firm's backers are confident that AI technology will be transformative, on par with the impact of the steam engine and the industrialization it enabled.

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Written by urgent.news from Japan Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.

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