TURIN, Italy — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos believes artificial intelligence (AI) is currently in what he calls an “industrial bubble,” where excitement and heavy investment have outpaced fundamentals. However, he emphasized that the technology itself is “real” and will ultimately deliver massive benefits to society.
Speaking at Italian Tech Week in Turin alongside Exor CEO John Elkann, Bezos compared the current AI boom to past speculative bubbles, such as the dot-com crash of 2000. “This is a kind of industrial bubble,” he said, explaining that stock prices and valuations today are often detached from business realities.
During such periods, Bezos noted, investors tend to fund both “good ideas and bad ideas” indiscriminately, making it difficult to separate innovation from hype. “That’s also probably happening today,” he added.
Still, Bezos argued that industrial bubbles are not necessarily harmful. Citing the biotech bubble of the 1990s, he said that while many firms failed, the era also produced groundbreaking medical innovations that society continues to benefit from. “When the dust settles and you see who the winners are, society benefits from those inventions,” he said.
Bezos also pointed out unusual investment behaviors — such as small startups raising billions — as evidence of overheated enthusiasm in the AI sector. Yet, he insisted the underlying technology is revolutionary: “AI is real, and it is going to change every industry.”
His comments echo growing concerns among other industry leaders. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon have both warned of overexuberance in the AI market. Solomon noted that while optimism drives innovation, “there will be a reset” as markets correct.
Similarly, Karim Moussalem, CIO of equities at Selwood Asset Management, compared the current AI frenzy to “one of the great speculative manias in market history.”
Despite the warnings, Bezos remains optimistic: the bubble may burst — but what survives, he says, will reshape the world.
