The AI Investment Boom

There is a comment on this thread about this being like the railroads, but this is nothing like the railroads except insofar as it costs a lot of money.

The railroads have lasted decades and will remain relevant for many more decades. They slowly wear out, and they are the most efficient form of land transport.

These hardware investments will all be written off in 6 years time and won't be worth running given the power costs and relative output. They will be junked.

There's also the extra risk that for some reason future AI systems just don't run efficiently on current gen hardware.

Some stuff like the buildings and power supplies will probably remain good. But year, probably new chips in a short while.

Power plants and power infrastructure are probably an example of a positive consequence that comes from this.

We have been terrified to whisper the words "nuclear power" for decades now, but the AI boom is likely to put enough demand on the power grid that it forces us to face this reality and make appropriate buildouts.

Even if the AI Boom crashes, these power plants will have positive impacts on the country for decades, likely centuries to come. Keeping bountiful power available and likely low-cost.

It is so bizarre that reducing pollution was not a sufficient driver to build more nuclear power, but training AI models is.