With investments in artificial intelligence rising rapidly, especially in China and the United States, two questions arise: Are we heading toward an AI bubble? And if so, how bad would it be if the bubble were to burst?

Having studied AI intensely for the past two years, our best guess to the first question is, yes, today’s fascination with all things AI has most of the trappings of a financial bubble. But unlike the housing bubble, the effects of a bursting AI bubble wouldn’t cause great harm. Indeed, this bubble seems to have more in common with the dot.com bubble, which helped finance the internet backbone, than the housing bubble, which wreaked havoc on the household finances of millions of homeowners.