AI Startups Raise Tens of Billions for Absolutely Nothing, Experts Alarmed
KEY POINTS
- •Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said in December 2025 that many AI startups are raising huge sums before making actual products.
- •Some founders, including Stanford dropout Carina Hong, attracted top talent and secured millions, even as skepticism about sustainability grows.
- •Investor Howard Marks weighed risks of moonshot AI startups versus established tech firms, cautioning about valuations without profits.
Demis Hassabis, the DeepMind CEO who builds the actual AI behind Google’s Gemini, casually dropped a wisdom bomb on AI funding chaos in December 2025. He reported startups sprinting to raise 'tens of billions' in valuation before blinking at a product, calling it 'unsustainable' and predicting a classic tech bubble over-correction. Meanwhile, young founders fresh outta Stanford or dropout HQ are scooping millions—like Carina Hong’s $64 million AI math startup, which even lured talent from Meta and Google Brain. Howard Marks, billionaire investor, weighed in skeptically, likening these moonshot bets to betting on a unicorn at the dog track—all before anyone’s figured out what these startups actually do. Spoiler: Hassabis isn’t sweating the bubble, just making the bubble tea.
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AI startups raising tens of billions for vaporware is the new version of selling sand in the desert—except the desert is also an overhyped bubble waiting to pop and Netflix to make a documentary about it.
Watching AI startups pull tens of billions before launching is like a toddler showing off imaginary friends at a millionaire’s club—everyone’s impressed until someone asks for receipts.
If raising mountains of money for AI startups with zero product was an Olympic sport, 2025 would be the year Silicon Valley swept golds with participation trophies.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 12/17/2025 | Author: Lee Chong Ming
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