[kwlug-disc] is AI profitable?

[Chris Frey]

I hope we're not all influenced by it.

I compare the site and the "analysis" and end up wondering where all
that money is coming from?  Is it all debt?  Wild eyed investment?
Stock market gambling?  Government loans or gifts?  CIA black budgets?

Real people are losing their jobs while these companies scramble and
gamble with other people's money trying to win a race to push even
more people out of work.  And while it happens, all this inflated
money is distorting the economy, making it harder on the poor.

I mean, the inflation caused by AI companies have distorted the economy
so badly that huge cloud companies like OVH have to recalculate their
costs and prices.

My gut reaction is that AI is a bubble, and it will be a glorious
day once it pops.  The sooner the better.  I'm not strictly against
the tech, I'm against the economic distortion that favours the
insider, the billionaire, and the politician at the expense of
everyone else.

If/When this bubble pops, how many of the CEOs are going to go broke?
We all know it's not them who will bear the risk of their actions,
nor the cost.  It would be bad enough if AI was a disrupting tech
like the automobile that sustained its own growth, but it is not.
AI literally robs from everyone (in data, compute, priority, and debt)
and yields underwhelming results, partial truths, and lies.

Just my $0.02.
- Chris


On Tue, May 26, 2026 at 10:02:55PM -0400, Remi Gauvin wrote:
> I kind of hate how accurately that AI echoed my thoughts, even those I
> hadn't really solidified yet.  There's just no way I could read
> something like that and not be influenced by it.
> 
> 
> On 2026-05-26 9:33 p.m., Raymond Chen wrote:
> > I sent the link to AI and it responded:
> >
> > I’d be cautious with  isaiprofitable.com <http://isaiprofitable.com>.
> >
> > From what I can tell, it’s more of a provocative “AI economics
> > tracker” than a rigorous financial analysis platform. The core message
> > — that most AI companies are spending huge amounts while only a few
> > infrastructure players like NVIDIA are making large profits — is
> > directionally reasonable. Even mainstream coverage has echoed that
> > framing.  
> >
> > That said, there are a few things I’d watch for:
> >
> >   * The site doesn’t appear to provide transparent methodology,
> >     audited data sources, or detailed assumptions.
> >   * The numbers are likely estimates stitched together from public
> >     reports, capex disclosures, and speculation.
> >   * “AI profitability” is extremely hard to measure because:
> >       o AI revenue is often bundled into cloud/business units
> >       o companies capitalize infrastructure differently
> >       o R&D accounting varies
> >       o many firms are intentionally in growth mode, not profit mode
> >
> > So the site may be useful as:
> >
> >   * a conversation starter
> >   * a macro sentiment indicator
> >   * a simplified visualization of AI spending vs returns
> >
> > But I would not use it for:
> >
> >   * investment decisions
> >   * precise financial conclusions
> >   * technical market analysis
> >
> > One thing the site /does/ get right conceptually: there’s a real
> > distinction between:
> >
> >  1. Infrastructure winners
> >     Example: GPU vendors, cloud providers
> >  2. Application-layer AI companies
> >     Many are still subsidizing users heavily
> >
> > A good real-world analogy:
> >
> >   * During the gold rush, shovel sellers often made steadier money
> >     than prospectors.
> >   * In AI, NVIDIA selling GPUs has often been more profitable than AI
> >     apps trying to monetize end users.
> >
> > I also couldn’t find much independent reputation history or strong
> > third-party validation around the site itself. The only broader
> > mentions I found were articles discussing its claims, not validating
> > its accuracy.  
> >
> 
> 

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