Billionaire Warns AI Investing Is Just Dot-Com Déjà Vu with More Robots
KEY POINTS
- •Howard Marks spoke at the October 8, 2023 summit in Hong Kong expressing concern over AI investment bubbles.
- •He compared this mania to historical bursts like the dot-com bubble, South Sea and Tulip Craze of 1636.
- •Marks advised favoring established tech firms over startups betting everything on AI moonshots with no profits.
On October 8, 2023, Howard Marks, the cofounder of Oaktree Capital Management, voiced his 'moonshot' displeasure in Hong Kong’s Global Financial Leaders Summit. The billionaire investor compared today's AI hype to nostalgic disasters like the 1636 Tulip Craze and 1999 dot-com bubble, warning that most AI startups with zero revenue are ticking time bombs of worthless dreams. Marks said people are playing the AI lottery, hoping to hit the trillion-dollar jackpot by throwing cash at unprofitable moonshots instead of solid tech giants quietly pocketing moderate AI gains. Turns out, changing the world and making actual money remain stubbornly unrelated.
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Investors chasing AI startups with no profits like it’s Vegas — spoiler: most will just lose their shirts and dignity.
Watching investors throw cash at AI startups with no revenue is like cheering on a neck-and-neck race between a sedated sloth and a snail.
AI hype? More like AI 'hope-nots.' Most new startups will vanish faster than your motivation on Monday morning.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 12/16/2025 | Author: Thibault Spirlet
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