AI bubble bursts: Altman asks Trump for $50 billion

The bailout that gives the bubble away: Altman asks Trump for $50 billion

Sam Altman has crossed a red line. The OpenAI CEO has asked President Donald Trump for a $50 billion injection in exchange for 5% of the company. When a private firm, with the highest valuation in the sector, comes knocking on the government's door, something smells bad. The numbers don't add up: AI is too expensive for companies, token costs are soaring and real-world deployment is years away, according to data from the debate.

The scene recalls the eve of other bubbles. While big Chinese tech companies absorb Silicon Valley startups, investors are starting to head for the exits. Nobody wants to be the last one out, as peine with the Terra platform. Some are already calling it the 'Burry moment', a reference to the investor who foresaw the 2005 crisis. The difference is that this time it won't take two years to see the collapse.

Burst or correction?

Not everyone sees it so clearly. Some analysts point out that what has burst is only OpenAI, while other companies — such as Elon Musk's xAI with its Grok model — are still operating at a loss but with multimillion-dollar spending plans, including data centers in space. The problem, as more skeptical voices warn, is that the bubble has been predicted so many times that when it actually falls — and it will fall more than 20% — the reaction will be a lukewarm 'so what'.

But the key fact is beyond dispute: a company asking the government to buy it is not at its best. The math is stubborn. The question is whether the rest of the sector will trinc the same path or whether, as some believe, the markets are already controlled by AI itself and it will be AI that decides its fate. Until then, skepticism is the most sensible stance.