The similarities are striking. Like the internet companies of two decades ago, AI firms today attract massive investments based on transformative potential rather than current profitability. Global corporate AI investment reached $252.3 billion in 2024, according to research from Stanford University, with the sector growing thirteenfold since 2014. Meanwhile, America’s biggest tech companies—Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft—have pledged to spend a record $320 billion on capital expenditures this year alone, much of it for AI infrastructure.
Even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, whose company is valued at approximately $500 billion despite launching ChatGPT just two years ago, acknowledges the parallels. “
Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI? My opinion is yes,” Altman said in August. “Is AI the most important thing to happen in a very long time? My opinion is also yes.”
But what actually caused the dot-com bubble to burst in March 2000, and what lessons does it offer for today’s AI boom? Let’s take a stroll down memory lane—or, if you weren’t born yet, some plain ole history.
The perfect storm of 2000
