AI Investment Fuels U.S. Growth, LeCun Warns Bubble

Massive AI spending on datacenters, chips and model development has been the principal driver keeping the U.S. economy out of recession, adding to GDP and corporate capital spending even as other investment collapses. That AI-led expansion is masking a highly uneven real economy: small businesses and sectors such as manufacturing, construction and hospitality face higher costs, flat spending and squeezed margins. Economists say much of the AI buildout has been financed by soaring equity valuations of Big Tech rather than broad corporate capex or debt, which has weakened the Federal Reserve’s usual transmission mechanism. Policymakers and analysts warn of “jobless growth” as AI boosts productivity without commensurate hiring, and questions remain about the long-term returns on AI and robotics investments amid financial and geopolitical risks. AI researcher Yann LeCun has warned the current humanoid-robot race looks like a bubble because many startups are hardware-focused and lack breakthroughs—such as continual learning and world-model planning—needed for general-purpose robots to be broadly useful.