AI capex is so big that it's affecting economic statistics

I don't know... 1.2% of GDP just doesn't seem that extreme to me. Certainly nowhere near "eating the economy" level compared to other transformative technologies or programs like:

- Apollo program: 4%

- Railroads: 6% (mentioned by the author)

- Covid stimulus: 27%

- WW2 defense: 40%

Yeah that's my first reaction to. 1.2% doesn't sound much. It's just people making headlines out of thin air. If it lists the water and energy consumption I might be more concerned.

Slightly off-topic, but ~9% of GDP is generated by "financial services" in the US. Personally I think it's a more alarming data point.

Why is 9% for financial services bad? This should cover fees/interest from everything like loans, transactions, mortgages, advice, investing, etc. It doesn't seem that surprising to me that the systems that are the backbone for all the money operations that power the rest of the economy make up about 10%.

I get your point, but the flip side is that private companies like visa and Mastercard get to skip 2.5%+ off the entire economy. Visa has more than 50% profit margin, and it’s not like these companies are innovating with all that extra cash either. It’s just money from my pocket to some rich investor somewhere

"from my pocket to some rich investor somewhere"

Or your retirement account. Everyone is mad about investors and companies making money. Sure, there are ultra wealthy people (mostly founders) that benefit disproportionately. However, most people who hope to retire some day rely on a 401k, pension, etc which is dependent on stocks. Retirement accounts have about $36T in the US, mostly in equities and corporate bonds.

"Founders" are a tiny percentage of the rich, they're just the ones in the news.

The richest 1% own half the wealth in the world and the gap is getting wider. Since 2020, for every dollar of new global wealth gained by someone in the bottom 90%, one of the world’s billionaires has gained $1.7 million. (Source: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/wealth-inequality-o...)

So yes, some of the wealth is going to your retirement account. But for every penny going to a middle-class professional workers retirement, there's about a thousand dollars going to some hedge fund manager or the trust fund of the grandson of some robber baron who got rich a hundred years ago.