Software Engineering Daily · Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Cory Doctorow draws parallels between the current AI excitement and previous tech bubbles like the dot-com, social media, and crypto booms. He argues that the underlying issue remains that the technology has not yet delivered on its promises, leading to inevitable company failures. Doctorow predicts the AI bubble will burst similarly, with new, hopefully more sustainable, companies emerging from the wreckage.
“The tech sector has had these cycles of hype and bust and then rebirth and then hype and bust again. The web bubble, the social media bubble, the crypto bubble. And each time, there's this narrative that the latest iteration is different. This time, it's AI.”
“And each time, there's a fundamental underlying problem that the technology itself is not yet capable of delivering on the promises made. And the companies that are built on those promises are destined to fail. It's just a matter of when.”
“And I think that the AI bubble is going to burst in the same way. We're going to see a lot of companies fail. And we're going to see a lot of people get hurt.”