Even by the breathless standards of previous technology hype cycles, the generative artificial intelligence enthusiasts have been hyperventilating hard.
Trillion-dollar companies, including Alphabet and Microsoft, declare that AI is the new electricity or fire and are re-engineering their entire businesses around it. Never knowingly outhyped, venture capital investors have been pumping money into the sector, too. Fifty of the most promising generative AI start-ups, identified by CB Insights, have raised more than $19bn in funding since 2019. Of these, 11 now count as unicorns with valuations above $1bn.