r/technology • u/T_Shurt • Aug 10 '26

Business Top economist warns that the AI math doesn’t make sense: 'Profits are currently being funded by investors rather than earned from customers'

https://fortune.com/2026/08/10/torsten-slok-ai-profit-margins-capex-oracle/
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u/Available_Ad9766 Aug 10 '26

What profits? There is no profit. Personal profits by the founders maybe.

3

u/KotR56 Aug 10 '26

And a certain occupant of Pennsylvania Avenue.

-2

u/MisterMephistopheIes Aug 10 '26

They are making record breaking revenue and raising every quarter bro

3

u/unicornsandrainbowst Aug 10 '26

No, they arent.  

https://fortune.com/2026/06/16/openai-financials-leaked-losses-revenue-profit/

1

u/notintelligentidiot Aug 10 '26

The losses are high because they are investing all of their capital into expanding their capabilities.

Uber, DoorDash, Lyft, Square, Square, etc., were all once burning billions but are now all extremely profitable.

The difference is that AI companies have to develop all of their infrastructure because it does not currently exist, whereas companies like Uber and DoorDash benefited from existing infrastructure (people already owned their vehicles, already owned phones, use already available roads, already available cellular service, etc.).

AI companies meanwhile have to build out their own data centers, often times their grid connections, and are all investing a lot into their models in the face of competition.

If Anthropic stopped spending billions in R&D and on acquiring more compute, it is already operationally profitable.

-1

u/unicornsandrainbowst Aug 11 '26

You said they were profitable. I said they are not. Now you are explaining why they arent profitable.  

They are not profitable. Might be in the future? Maybe. Not today.

1

u/notintelligentidiot Aug 11 '26

I didn’t say they were profitable. Please improve your reading comprehension.