Cory Doctorow is the author and tech critic who brought us the term ‘enshittification’ – which refers to the gradual decline in the quality of digital platforms and services over time.

Now he’s warning that what we’ve been led to believe is the inevitable march of AI towards world domination isn’t that inevitable after all, and actually what we’re marching towards could be the end of the AI bubble.

Because every time you ask ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini a question, companies like OpenAI are losing money. The more we use, the more they lose.

And while those AI giants burn through billions of dollars a year, gambling that eventually they’ll figure out how to turn it into a profitable business, the world’s economy is hanging in the balance.

Today, Cory Doctorow, on why the AI boom is being pushed into every part of our lives and what happens when the bubble bursts.

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Cory Doctorow is in Australia this August for appearances at Sydney’s Festival of Dangerous Ideas, and in Melbourne at The Capitol, presented by The Wheeler Centre and Now or Never. His new book, The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI, is out via Verso 

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Guest: Author Cory Doctorow

Photo: AAP Image/James Ross