원문 보기
Something very interesting just happened a couple of days ago. Sam Altman, the man who was pretty much the face of generative AI until everyone else played catch up. The man who predicted job apocalypses due to AI. The man who even went on to defend AI saying that humans also use energy has made one big admission.
That AI costs have become a huge issue for companies. And he says that this question of cost seems to have come up very suddenly. At an event earlier this week, he said that the issue never came up even until the beginning of 2026. People were totally happy with the amount that they were spending. And now suddenly AI costs are a huge issue.
Basically, he's saying that this seems to have come out of the blue. And that does seem to be the case at least in terms of the narrative around it. Because although investors and industry watchers have raised the issue before, the narrative remained completely AI Pro Max within the industry among employers until last month when Uber actually put on record that they were blowing through their budget due to AI use.
Then other firms like Microsoft ended up capping employees usage of AI tokens. Then companies like Amazon who'd made leader boards rewarding people who were using more AI started to take these leader boards down. And all of this has happened just within a span of a few days. Now Uber, which was among the first to have raised the issue, has also capped their employees AI usage at $1,500 worth of token usage in a month.
This after they went on record to say that they finished their yearly budget within 4 months. Many are warning of the AI bubble as well, saying that there's no way to justify the sky-high valuation of companies like Anthropic and OpenAI and others. And this could be risky for them because they're all planning on going public.
Anthropic has already filed the papers as well. The narrative shifted 180° so quickly that now even Altman says that the massive money that gets spent is a fair criticism of AI. And he went on to say that while tech leaders say great stuff is happening, there is a lot of wastage as well. He's even gone back on his thesis that AI will cause large-scale employment collapses, saying that he's delighted to have been wrong about this particular issue.
So now the entire story seems to have changed even quicker than the whole AI boom had escalated. And public sentiment on this has been clear from the start. Because from speakers getting booed at graduation events for urging young workers to boost their AI skills to employees raising concerns about this, there are many people who've not been happy with the complete disruption that AI has caused in their workplaces and their lives.
But it's time to look at the big picture. Because though warning bells over using too much AI are ringing and the industry and investors are now conscious of it, the fact of the matter is that it is a breakthrough technology. AI does have its use cases. And while it's of course unlikely to completely replace workers in general, as many big tech CEOs hypothesized earlier, it is still disrupting the job market and it will continue to.
Because several thousands of people have been laid off and many firms have cited AI as the reason. And the impact on India has been big. As per a Reuters report just today, finding a good job in India is going to get a lot harder. Headcount growth at India's biggest private company, which is Reliance, is slowing sharply.
IT outsourcers like TCS and Infosys have also dipped due to slowing revenues and the rise of new coding tools. And these are major employers. So when things take a downturn, it is noteworthy on this front. Now leaders like say Nvidia's Jensen Huang say that AI will only add to jobs because it's adding to productivity, it's adding to revenue.
So, why won't companies hire more people for more revenue? But the fact of the matter is that the main danger is that most of our workforce does not have the modern skills that are required for the rapidly changing economy. And hence many companies will turn to AI as a quick fix. They're going to keep trying to adopt new technologies faster than they realize whether it's actually benefiting them or not.
But the experiments will continue. So, there's no denying that things are changing and they will continue to change. But yes, these fresh admissions even by those who have the most stake in the AI boom, it does signal that the disruption may not be as bad as many predicted during the initial AI adoption race.
Many experts have been citing Amara's Law to describe the narrative around AI. This basically states that we tend to overestimate a technology's impact in the short term, but we tend to underestimate it in the long run. So, with AI this basically means that near-term predictions of instant radical transformations usually miss the mark.
But in the long term, compounding changes will quietly end up reshaping society. There are of course other aspects to the debate as well. For example, the opposition to data centers, AI safety norms, the social versus economic balance of incorporating AI too fast and too deeply. But the key seems to lie in balance.
Using AI yes, but using it efficiently. Not pushing it where it doesn't belong. And for employees, knowing how to use AI will still be your best bet to thriving in the job market. So, this is an evolving topic and nobody really knows the direction that it's going to take. But we at Mint are going to keep tracking it very closely.
Thank you for watching and stay tuned as we navigate these turbulent times together. [bell] In a world where business never stops, Mint keeps you ahead any screen anytime. From studios to the ground, Mint breaks down business, leadership, and lifestyle boldly, visually, and smartly. . Mint is doing brilliantly well, so well read page I would think.
What fuels India's biggest CEOs? Ride along and find out. I have to work that much harder. I have to put that much more in over the years. Yes. Earlier I could say, "No, you know, I can't afford this." Yeah. But now I can. Want to invest like the pros? Learn from India's top market experts. Things like that worry me.
About markets. I don't want to buy a house to invest in. Your money, your future. We make finance simple. Step inside breathtaking homes and the creative minds behind them. So, we are at the house in Camellias. I think Camellias is the most expensive property in the . India's real estate scene decoded.
No jargon, no fluff. Home buyers will have more bargaining power. It's a great time to buy a house as well. Some chase success, others create it. Meet the ones who made the impossible possible. . that's the most fragile thing. Hopefully it'll go away. We don't just talk business, we show it. And the world's watching.
In a world where business never stops, Mint keeps you ahead any screen, anytime. From studios to the ground. Mint is doing brilliantly well. So well-read page Mint breaks down business, leadership, and lifestyle boldly, visually, and smartly. . What fuels India's biggest CEOs? Ride along and find out.
Want to invest like the pros? Learn from India's top market experts. Your money, your future. We make finance simple. Step inside breathtaking homes and the creative minds behind them. India's real estate scene decoded. No jargon, no fluff. Some chase success, others create it. Meet the ones who made the impossible possible. We don't just talk business, we show it. And the world's watching.
Comments 0