After the AI boom: what might we be left with?

The AI boom is being compared to the 1990s dotcom bubble, where overinvestment ultimately created lasting internet infrastructure, but today's AI spending focuses on short-lived, specialized GPUs and proprietary data centers rather than durable, open systems. Unlike the dotcom era's fiber networks that still carry traffic today, current AI hardware becomes obsolete within 1-3 years and remains locked within closed ecosystems controlled by major vendors like Nvidia and Google.