Boom And Bust: Is AI The New Dotcom Bubble?

Right now, Artificial Intelligence feels unstoppable. Investors are piling in, expectations are sky-high and claims about a radically different future are everywhere. To anyone who remembers the late 1990s, it all feels strikingly familiar.

Back then, the internet sparked the dotcom boom - a frenzy of big ideas, easy money and soaring valuations. When the bubble burst in 2000, billions were lost and companies wiped out. Yet the core idea proved right - the internet did transform lives, just more slowly and messily than expected. And there are important lessons to be learned.

Evan Davis talks to Ernst Malmsten, co-founder and CEO of boo.com, one of the most high-profile startups of the dotcom era. From his frontline seat in the boom and bust, he shares what really happened and what today’s AI moment can learn from it.

Guests:

Ernst Malmsten, co-founder and former CEO, boo.com

Gretchen Morgenson, business reporter at the New York Times during the dotcom bubble, now senior financial reporter, NBC News Investigations

David Pringle, tech writer and former Wall Street Journal reporter

Production team:

Presenter: Evan Davis

Producer: Sally Abrahams

Production Co-ordinators: Katie Morrison and Jack Young

Sound: Dave O’Neill and Rod Farquhar

Editor: Matt Willis

The Bottom Line is produced in partnership with The Open University.