“The AI buildout is the largest bet in the history of capitalism. Key decision makers believe very powerful AI will be achieved soon.” by Hayekstan

LessWrong (30+ Karma) · Oct 27, 2026 · 7m

This is part linkpost, and an expansion on a previous shortform posted on LW.

I believe a massively undermade point in favour of the belief that AI will be a very big deal is that the AI buildout over the past four years is the largest bet in the history of capitalism. A titanic peacetime industrial effort is underway which has not had a comparison since the nineteenth century. The size of the effort and the scale of the spend signal that key decision makers and capital allocators believe very poweful AI will be achieved in the next few years.

Many of us are vaguely aware that large sums are…