IT Home On October 23, according to a report by the British “Financial Times,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bernsant told investors during a private meeting that he did not identify any “systemic issues” with the AI boom, thereby reducing concerns that the AI industry might repeat the collapse of the internet bubble.
On the 21st local time, Besent attended a conference jointly hosted by JPMorgan Chase and the Robin Hood Foundation in New York. Hundreds of financial industry executives and investors were present at the event. The Robin Hood Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones. The conference promoted itself with the claim of offering “exclusive investment insights”. Tickets cost a minimum of $7,500 (approx. 50,162 RMB at current exchange rate), and journalists were not allowed to attend.
According to three participants, Bessen, who was a macro hedge fund manager, said in an interview with Bridgewater Fund CEO Neil Bardai about his views on AI. He said, “I’m very good at determining when a system has problems. I don’t see any systemic issues.”
At the time when Besent made these remarks, the financial market was in a sensitive period. Over the past few weeks, the market has experienced several disruptions, and some investors are beginning to question whether AI-related stocks have risen too high. At the same time, they are worried that companies are issuing large amounts of debt to build data centers and purchase chips. Some analysts believe that the current AI investment boom is quite similar to the frenzy during the Internet bubble at the turn of the century.
During the 30-minute interview, Besent discussed the U.S. economy, with the latter half focusing mainly on AI. He generally viewed the benefits that AI technological progress brings to the United States positively, but also pointed out that data center operators and AI companies failed to fully explain these benefits to ordinary Americans. “This isn’t Pets.com. The most intelligent people in the world put 99% of their wealth into these companies, and they have some of the most profitable companies in the world. They believe in AI.”
IT Home note: Pets.com was one of the last tech companies to go public before the internet bubble peaked in March 2000.