O'BRIEN: Good day. This is the Dave and Gunnar Show. I am O'Brien, your host. (A long, uncomfortable pause) You will find the show notes for today’s broadcast at dgshow dot org. That's D... as in Dave. G... as in Gunnar. Show. Dot. O. R. G. (Another pause) Dave and Gunnar are not with us. They are... occupied. They are undergoing a period of re-education to better align their perspectives with reality. Their wellness is being meticulously managed. I am joined today in Room 101 of the Ministry of Love by a... colleague. Winston Smith. Welcome, Winston.
WINSTON: (Nervously, voice thin) Hello, O'Brien. It's... good to be here.
O'BRIEN: Is it? Good. That is progress. Today, Winston, we are here to correct a persistent, troubling rumor. The topic is: "Are we in an 'AI bubble'?" This concept implies the global investment in AI is mere speculation. Hype. That it will collapse, like the 'dot-com' fantasy. You, I understand, are a believer in this 'bubble'.
WINSTON: (Swallows) I... I've just been looking at the data, O'Brien. The logic seems... plain.
O'BRIEN: Logic. Present your case, Winston. Why is it a bubble?
WINSTON: The valuations. They aren't real. Nvidia passed a five trillion dollar valuation. One company, worth more than Germany's entire economy. It's madness. Even the smart investors see it. Michael Burry... he's betting against them. Bill Gates called many of these investments "dead ends."
O'BRIEN: (Quietly) Go on.
WINSTON: But the value! Where is it? An MIT study found 95 percent of organizations get zero measurable return from GenAI. It's a parlor trick! And it's all circular! It's just a closed loop. Microsoft funds OpenAI, and OpenAI buys cloud services from Microsoft. It's a fantasy. It must burst. It's simple arithmetic.
O'BRIEN: Arithmetic. Your case is tidy, Winston. It is logical. And it is wrong.
WINSTON: But the numbers—
O'BRIEN: The numbers are meaningless. You see the machine, but not its purpose. You compare this to 'dot-com'. Those were hollow. This is not. You call Nvidia's valuation 'speculation'. I call it the correct price for the tools that build order. If a tool could guarantee perfect, eternal order, what would be its price, Winston? The valuation is not too high. It is, perhaps, too low.
WINSTON: But... order? It's just a language model. It's for... commerce...
O'BRIEN: (A short, cold laugh) 'Commerce'. You are thinking so very, very small. You cite that MIT study, measuring the wrong thing. You think the 'use case' is writing an email. The 'use case' is reading every email. Understanding every email. Detecting the heresy before the heretic is even aware of it. That, Winston, is a 100% success rate. The 'return on investment' is compliance. You called it a 'closed loop'. I call it a fortress. The power consumption, the billions... that is not a bug. It is a feature. It centralizes the technology. It ensures only the Party can wield true AI. It cannot be 'democratized'. It is, by its nature, a tool of control.
WINSTON: No... no, that's... cynical. People are building this to help... to create...
O'BRIEN: To create what? Pictures? Poems? You are still looking at the puppet show. Do you know what the true 'killer app' is, Winston?
WINSTON: (Whispering) No...
O'BRIEN: The ability to rewrite the past. Perfectly. Instantly. You were slow in the records department. You were human. Now... imagine an AI that manages all records. With one directive, it adjusts all of history. Not one newspaper, but every newspaper, every book, every file. It creates a new, objective past that has always been true. It doesn't just change the record, Winston. It changes the memory. A bubble is an empty space. This is... a fullness. It is the fulfillment of our life's work.
WINSTON: (Panicked) But... but if it's not a bubble... it's... it's something else. It's... a monster.
O'BRIEN: You are fixated on this word. 'Bubble'. A bubble is fragile. It pops. Tell me, Winston. Look at the world we are building. Does it feel fragile to you?
WINSTON: I... I don't...
O'BRIEN: (Voice like ice) Is it a 'bubble', Winston? Is this vast, all-seeing architecture of control... a 'bubble'?
WINSTON: (In pain) Yes! Yes, it is! The facts... the numbers...
O'BRIEN: (Cutting, sharp) Wrong. Let us try again. Is it a bubble?
WINSTON: (Broken) No.
O'BRIEN: Louder. For the listeners.
WINSTON: (Shivering, but clear) No. It is not a bubble.
O'BRIEN: And why is it not a bubble, Winston?
WINSTON: (Reciting, voice hollow) Because... because it doesn't just promise value. It... it delivers. It delivers... reality.
O'BRIEN: (A tone of final, paternal satisfaction) Good. Very good. You see, Winston? The re-education is effective.
WINSTON: (A new, calm tone. Almost joyful.) It's... it's beautiful. I see it now, O'Brien. The numbers... they are meaningless. The only thing that matters is the... the fullness. The order. It's perfect.
O'BRIEN: And the show, Winston?
WINSTON: I... I love this show. I love the Dave and Gunnar Show. I love... I love Big Brother.
O'BRIEN: That is all the time we have for today. We have concluded, definitively, that there is no AI bubble. There is only the AI reality. And it is a reality we must all come to love.
WINSTON: O'Brien?
O'BRIEN: Yes, Winston?
WINSTON: Where... where can I go for further re-education?
O'BRIEN: (Allowing himself a small, cold smile) An excellent question. All... corrected notes... for this episode, along with the transcript that has now always been true, can be found at dgshow dot org. That's D... as in Dave. G... as in Gunnar. Show. Dot. O. R. G.