Are AI's Economics Unsustainable? — With Ed Zitron

Big Technology Podcast

Alex Kantrowitz

Technology, Religion & Spirituality, Business News, Business, Religion, Science, Philosophy, Society & Culture, Entrepreneurship, Management, Marketing, Politics, News Commentary, Government, Investing, Tech News, Social Sciences, News

4.6 • 395 Ratings

🗓️ 23 July 2025

⏱️ 94 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ed Zitron is the owner of EZPR, host of Better Offline, and author of the Where’s Your Ed At newsletter. Zitron joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss whether the generative-AI boom is an unsustainable bubble ready to pop. Tune in to hear him debate OpenAI’s multi-billion-dollar burn rate, Microsoft’s leverage, and the economics behind ChatGPT. We also cover Nvidia’s GPU market, SoftBank’s colossal bets, advertiser drift from Google Search, and the hype around “AI companions." Hit play for a sharp, no-fluff conversation about the economics of AI. You can find Ed's newsletter at: https://www.wheresyoured.at --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b Questions? Feedback? Write to: [email protected]

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Does the AI business have what it takes to survive?
0:03.0	Our guest today says no.
0:04.5	That's coming up right after this.
0:06.8	Welcome to Big Technology Podcast, a show for cool-headed and nuanced conversation of the tech world and beyond.
0:13.0	We're joined today by Ed Zitron.
0:15.0	He's the owner of EZPR, the host of Better Offline and the author of The Where's Your Ed at newsletter.
0:21.6	And here to speak with us about his criticism of the AI business and why it may all soon collapse.
0:27.6	Ed, great to see you. Welcome to the show.
0:29.6	Great to see you. Thank you for having me.
0:31.6	Okay, so we've had some very different varieties of critics on the show.
0:36.6	We've had people who've said, it's poisoning society. We've had people who've said it's poisoning society.
0:39.3	We've had people like Gary Marcus who've said that the progress is gone.
0:43.3	We've had in various iterations folks who've talked about how it can be used by bad actors to do things like enhanced viruses.
0:51.3	Soon we'll have someone who's going to come on to talk about escape risk. But you are in a different category. You really think that the business of Open
1:00.0	AI and the AI industry is unsustainable. This is something we talk about a lot on the show. I'm very
1:07.0	familiar with your work and it's great to have you here to discuss it. Yeah, it's just all very silly when you look at it.
1:13.6	Right now we're sitting there, the most important company in AI is Open AI.
1:18.6	They will burn probably $12, $13 billion after revenue this year.
1:22.6	That's based on projections.
1:24.6	They also have no path to profitability. They don't have one. They claim
1:29.2	the information's reported a few times like 2029, 2030, they're going to magically become
1:33.8	profitable due to Stargate. Now, how will that happen? Nobody actually knows an Open AI will not tell
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Alex Kantrowitz, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Alex Kantrowitz and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.