I do think this is a bit bigger than AI.
A problem we’ve been running up against for a while is that the US economy, maybe the world-wide technology sector in general, has run out of things to innovate. It’s an empty mine. This is part of the reason they want AI to be a thing so badly, it is the only thing propping up the GDP at this point, and it’s barely doing that.
[Edit] Sorry, the point being: if it wasn’t AI, it would’ve been VR or Bitcoin or some other half-baked idea. We are headed for a cliff at the moment.
I feel like this is a pyrrhic victory.