People Loved the Dot-Com Boom. They HATE the AI Boom. Here's Why That Matters.

Remember the dot-com era? People were genuinely excited about the internet changing everything. There was optimism, enthusiasm, and a feeling that technology was making life better.

The AI boom? Not so much.

A new investigation from The New York Times reveals that tech leaders are growing increasingly worried about something they didn't expect: the public just isn't that excited about AI. In fact, many people are actively hostile toward it.

This matters more than you might think. Public enthusiasm drove the dot-com boom. People eagerly adopted new websites, online shopping, and email. But with AI, there's a growing sense of unease. People worry about job losses, privacy invasion, and machines making decisions that affect their lives.

The concern inside Silicon Valley is that this lack of enthusiasm could actually burst the AI bubble. If regular people don't want to use AI products, all those billions being invested could go to waste.

Meanwhile, the stock market is already showing cracks. The S&P 500 dipped into the red for 2026 last week, partly driven by fears about AI disrupting traditional software companies.

The big takeaway? Building amazing AI technology is one thing. Getting normal people to actually want it is turning out to be the much harder problem.

As reported by The New York Times.

Source: The New York Times