Another Crazy Day in AI: Why Even Smart Money Gets Caught in Investment Bubbles
- Wowza Team
- Oct 23
- 4 min read
Hello, AI Enthusiasts.
The week’s cruising along, and so are the AI headlines.
In a recent podcast, a leading financial historian explores what centuries of market manias can teach us about today’s AI-fueled excitement. His take: even smart investors can get swept up when innovation turns into speculation. Maybe we’re not irrational… just historically consistent.
Netflix is taking that same energy to Hollywood, saying AI’s here to enhance, not erase, creativity.
And Samsung’s Galaxy XR takes things further, fusing AI with immersive tech to reimagine how we experience the digital world.
Here's another crazy day in AI:
What financial historians see in the AI investment wave
Netflix doubles down on Gen AI amid industry debate
Samsung debuts its first AI-native XR device
Some AI tools to try out
TODAY'S FEATURED ITEM: History’s Warning for the Tech Boom
Image Credit: Wowza (created with Ideogram)
What if the excitement fueling today’s AI investments looks a lot like past financial bubbles?
In The Big View podcast, Peter Thal Larsen, Global Editor at Reuters Breakingviews, sits down with Edward Chancellor, a renowned financial historian and author of Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation. Together, they explore what history’s biggest financial bubbles—from the dotcom era to the 2008 crisis—can teach us about today’s AI-fueled market surge. Chancellor shares insights from decades of studying speculative bubbles, explaining how investors might spot warning signs, why rational people make seemingly irrational investment decisions, and what typically brings these booms to an end. The discussion also tackles an interesting question: can bubbles actually benefit society, even when they leave investors nursing heavy losses?
What the discussion points to:
How valuation tools such as the Shiller PE ratio can signal when markets are overheating, even if they can’t predict when corrections will happen.
Why rapid price gains and massive capital inflows often mark the early signs of a bubble taking shape.
The scale of AI investments, with trillions of dollars flowing into chips and data centers, much of it financed by debt or long-term commitments.
The competitive pressure pushing companies and investors to stay in the race—sometimes more out of necessity than confidence.
How bubbles can leave behind lasting infrastructure, from railways to fiber optics, even when they end in financial loss.
The role of rising interest rates and economic slowdowns in ending speculative surges across history.
Chancellor's analysis reveals how bubbles emerge from rational behavior under competitive pressure. Tech executives watching rivals invest billions in AI face real strategic concerns. Staying cautious might protect resources now, but falling behind technologically could prove fatal later. Investment managers deal with similar tensions. Clients expect performance, and missing a major rally invites tough questions regardless of long-term wisdom. These individual calculations, reasonable on their own, can combine to create unsustainable market conditions.
The discussion avoids simplistic conclusions. Chancellor acknowledges he cannot predict when or whether the AI boom will end badly. Bubbles often last longer than critics expect, making timing extremely difficult even for seasoned investors. The 1990s telecom bubble destroyed considerable wealth but also funded fiber optic networks that became essential infrastructure. Whether AI follows a similar path, expensive for participants but eventually productive for society, remains uncertain. The podcast examines different possibilities without claiming to know which will materialize.
Larsen and Chancellor offer practical ways to think about speculative markets rather than definitive forecasts. Recognizing a bubble and timing its peak are completely different challenges. Understanding how rational choices by many actors can produce collectively irrational outcomes helps explain recurring patterns in financial markets. History provides context, not predictions. Previous technological revolutions created similar investment frenzies with mixed results. Some delivered lasting value, others left wreckage. Examining those precedents gives investors and observers better tools for evaluating current developments, even when the future stays genuinely unclear.
Watch it on YouTube here.
Listen on Apple Podcasts here.
Listen on Spotify here.
OTHER INTERESTING AI HIGHLIGHTS:
Netflix Doubles Down on Gen AI Amid Industry Debate
/Amanda Silberling, Senior Writer, on TechCrunch
As Hollywood continues to wrestle with the role of AI in storytelling, Netflix is leaning in. The company says it’s “all in” on using generative AI to help creators work smarter — not to replace them. From special effects in The Eternaut to digital de-aging in Happy Gilmore 2, Netflix sees AI as a tool to enhance creativity and production, not a threat to it. Still, the move reignites debates across the entertainment industry about where human artistry ends and machine assistance begins.
Read more here.
Samsung Debuts Its First AI-Native XR Device
/Samsung Newsroom
Samsung has officially launched Galaxy XR, the first device built on the new Android XR platform created with Google and Qualcomm. Designed to merge AI and immersive technology, Galaxy XR marks the start of Samsung’s next computing frontier — combining voice, vision, and gesture for natural, multimodal interaction. With built-in Gemini integration, 3D video capabilities, and ergonomic design, it aims to reshape how people work, learn, and explore digital worlds.
Read more here.
SOME AI TOOLS TO TRY OUT:
Scrybe Voice – Turns spoken thoughts into viral social posts w/ natural AI voice and flair.
Krea Realtime – Instantly generate, edit, and restyle videos or images in real time.
Sparks – Build custom AI agents, collaborate in real time, and publish to the agent store.
That’s a wrap on today’s Almost Daily craziness.
Catch us almost every day—almost! 😉
EXCITING NEWS:
The Another Crazy Day in AI newsletter is on LinkedIn!!!
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