Jeff Bezos of Amazon, $AMZN, says that AI is an “industrial bubble"

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said Friday that artificial intelligence is in an “industrial bubble,” but emphasized that the technology itself is genuine and will ultimately deliver major benefits to society.

Speaking at Italian Tech Week in Turin during a conversation with Exor CEO John Elkann, Bezos compared the current excitement around AI to previous investment booms. “This is a kind of industrial bubble,” he said when asked whether the AI sector shows signs of overheating.

Bezos described the defining traits of such periods, noting that bubbles occur when company valuations become “disconnected from the fundamentals” and investor enthusiasm runs high. “The second thing that happens is that people get very excited — like they are today about artificial intelligence,” he said.

He added that during these phases, nearly every idea attracts funding, regardless of quality. “The good ideas and the bad ideas all get financed,” Bezos said. “And investors, caught up in the excitement, have a hard time distinguishing between them. That’s also probably happening today.”