Source
The Conversation
Summary
Cameron Shackell draws parallels between today’s AI boom and the electrification craze of the 1920s. Just as electricity fuelled massive innovation, speculation and eventual collapse, AI is showing similar patterns of overinvestment, market concentration and loose regulation. The 1929 stock market crash revealed the dangers of unregulated “high-tech” exuberance, leading to reforms that transformed electricity into stable infrastructure. Shackell warns that AI could follow the same path—booming unsustainably before a painful correction—unless governments implement thoughtful regulation. The question, he suggests, is whether we can integrate AI safely into daily life before a comparable bust forces reform.
Key Points
- The 1920s electricity boom mirrors today’s AI surge in hype and speculation.
- Both technologies reshaped industries and drove market concentration.
- Lack of oversight in the 1920s helped trigger the Great Depression.
- AI’s rapid expansion faces similarly weak global regulation.
- The author urges proactive governance to avoid another tech-driven collapse.
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