Opening Thoughts
It’s hard to keep up with the speed at which the technology world moves. Just as one huge AI change grabs headlines, another is waiting in line to grab us. Likewise, it feels as though AI companies are now valued in the billions of dollars, and many of us don’t know why, who they are, or why they are valued at such incredible market value.
Comparisons Between AI & The Internet
Some investors and market analysts believe that AI might be experiencing a bubble like the dot-com bubble that emerged in the late 1990s. There are parallels to draw here. The internet still transformed our lives, just like many people think AI will; the dotcom bubble didn’t mean that the internet was a fad or that its place was overstated – it just meant that certain companies had been overvalued, leading to stock market overvaluations, hysteria, and significant investments.
Companies that found their niche online and created brands and ideas could flourish regardless, even during the dot-com bubble and a few years later during the global market downturn.
The casino industry is an excellent example; it has consistently spearheaded change and adapted to new technology, from the early days of the Internet to smartphones and the modern market, which is increasingly integrating new challenger ideas such as cryptocurrency casinos. Thunderpick Casino uses a range of cryptocurrency payment options and highlights how pioneers in the casino world leave no stone unturned when creating a genuinely different way to play.
Wishful Thinking?
Those who are pessimistic about AI and the possibilities it will unlock might perpetuate these ideas louder than others. The idea of a dotcom bubble-style crash would be welcome for those constantly warning us about the potential of unregulated AI and how its advance and influence might not be as profound as some people think.
The genie is out of the bottle when it comes to AI, and rather worryingly, it feels like it’s also out of the bottle regarding regulation, too. AI companies are steamrolling to trillion-dollar valuations, and there doesn’t seem to be a genuine drive to ensure they remain within a regulated framework in the US. The EU has established a framework, but a global effort is crucial.
Strangely enough, if AI can disrupt some of the titans of the internet, then this could inadvertently lead to regulation of the sector, particularly in countries like the US, where technology giants hold considerable influence over policy and the direction of regulators.
Challenging The Status Quo
Several AI giants are challenging the traditional status quo in the internet world. Search engines, which have long been monopolistic and dominated their own markets, are finally witnessing genuine competition that could finally eat into some of their market share.
Claude, an AI chatbot designed by Anthropic, now has a facility that can draw complex search engine results from a basic command. While there are still some teething problems, Gemini, Google’s AI, aims to get ahead of this curve to keep its dominant market share in a field that it has dominated for 30 years.
ChatGPT, the first generative AI model to emerge as a genuine threat to traditional search engines, also offers a similar facility. Some of these characteristics are cutting-edge and are very impressive.
For instance, if you ask ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude to provide a detailed list of NFL games over the next couple of weeks or if you’re looking for various food or cocktail menus, the search results are varied, detailed, and specific.
However, while tech experts might be jumping for joy at these impressive advances, there are still areas where they need to be improved. Some search results or more niche suggestions, such as the top moments of the Thunderpick World Championships, are in many ways less helpful than search engines, as they can pull together a flurry of random results and not really.
Summary
In the long run, AI will prove a considerable challenge for several industries. Those who aren’t able to adapt to these changes or effectively deal with the blows will risk falling behind.
Although some of the biggest search engine companies in the world, like Google, have been putting their funds and research into the development of AI programs like Gemini for the last couple of years, there is now an array of start-up companies, both in the US and further afield, that are going to genuinely shake up the way that people find their information online.
Over the last decade, social media companies have acted as alternatives to search engines, with more people (for better or worse) getting their information from TikToks, Facebook, and smaller social media sites such as X, formerly known as Twitter.
While it’ll take a tremendous amount of change to dislodge some of the world’s most prominent tech companies from the top of this pyramid, all companies eventually experience a downturn, and with AI and the way it’s developing, who knows what companies will come out on top when all is said and done?
Trending Now
