Nassim Nicholas Taleb, well known for his best-selling book “The Black Swan,” hinted on Friday a new craze taking hold among the young adults.
The crypto fad found among “fanciful adults who like to play [with] computers in their mothers’ basements” is starting to peter out, said Taleb on Twitter. Instead, this young crop of adults is now getting enamored with artificial intelligence, he said.
“You need another infatuation to displace an infatuation,” he said.
Cryptocurrencies, meanwhile, have seen a crisis of confidence amid several frauds and bankruptcies, while regulatory crackdowns have stifled their growth. Gone are the days when frenzied adopters claimed that these digital currencies would replace their fiat counterparts due to the former group’s decentralized nature, ease of transaction, speed of transaction and protection against inflation.
Mainstream adoption, which many had hoped would pick up, hasn’t materialized.
Cryptos came under selling pressure in 2022 alongside other financial assets and have been seeing only a sporadic recovery.
Taleb is a prominent crypto bear, calling Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) worthless and the blockchain useless. Taleb, a mathematical statistician, may not be far from the truth when he said AI is now the cynosure of young adults.
Ever since OpenAI announced its ChatGPT chatbot, powered by GPT, a large language model, AI conversations have become more prevalent. People have come to realize the boundless opportunities this technology presents. Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI and integration of the latter’s technology into its Bing search and cloud businesses have only served to validate its utility.
The equity market is currently frothy, and analysts have been warning of an AI bubble waiting to burst. Several companies with even the slightest AI connection are seeing their stocks soar, reflecting investors’ positive disposition toward the tech. It remains to be seen if AI is just a passing fad or the technology of the future.
The ever-changing landscape of technological trends continues to influence the interests of young adults and investors alike. Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s observations point towards a shifting preference from the waning crypto craze to a burgeoning fascination with artificial intelligence (AI).
While the crypto market faces challenges and regulatory hurdles, AI’s boundless potential and real-world applications are garnering widespread attention. As AI integration expands across industries and businesses, its future impact remains uncertain, with some expressing concerns about an AI bubble. However, the dynamic nature of technology and the ongoing quest for innovation leave us eager to witness how AI will shape the world in the years to come.
© 2023 Zenger News.com. Zenger News does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Produced in association with Benzinga
Edited by Suparba Sil