Technology
The AI Industry Is Built on a Big Unproven Assumption
In addition to the projections about reaching artificial general intelligence and replacing millions of human workers, there’s the mundane matter of how long AI chips will last.
Illustration: Felix Decombat for Bloomberg Businessweek
The AI boom has many people asking scary questions like, “Is this technology going to take my job, and if so, how soon?” Some accountants are asking their own frightening question: “Are tech companies improperly calculating the depreciation cycles of graphics processing units?”
Although this one doesn’t have the same existential ring to it, answering the question could go a long way toward understanding the financial sustainability of the artificial intelligence market.