Meta and Google acknowledge that "there may be too much investment in AI," but "the risk of underinvestment far outweighs the risk of overinvestment."
Tech giants would rather over-invest than under-invest, because in the tech industry, falling behind means having nothing at all
In the fierce competition in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), executives from Meta and Google recently admitted that their companies may have spent too much on AI infrastructure. However, they also emphasized that the risk of underinvestment far outweighs the risk of overinvestment.
The Necessity of AI Investment
Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg pointed out this week in a podcast that in order to ensure Meta maintains a leading position in the AI field, the company has spent billions of dollars purchasing NVIDIA's GPUs to develop and train advanced AI models. Nevertheless, he also acknowledged that hype around AI could lead to excessive investment.
"Because the consequences of falling behind are that you will be at a disadvantage in the most important technologies for the next 10 to 15 years."
Similarly, Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressed a similar view this week.
During Google's earnings conference call on Tuesday, Sundar Pichai was asked when Google's quarterly $12 billion AI investment would pay off. He also admitted that AI products take time to mature and become more useful.
"AI costs are high, but the risk of underinvestment is greater." Google may have invested too much in AI infrastructure, mainly including the purchase of NVIDIA's GPUs. Even if the AI hype slows down, the data centers and computer chips the company has purchased can be used for other purposes. For us, the risk of underinvestment far outweighs the risk of overinvestment."
The competition and market pressure brought by AI make tech giants unable to stop for a moment.
In addition to Meta and Google, companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, and Tesla have all bought large quantities of GPUs from NVIDIA. These companies have publicly stated that AI investment is a core priority for this year and the foreseeable future.
David Cahn, a partner at Sequoia Capital, pointed out in a blog last week that the tech giants' crazy spending around AI is the result of dynamic competition, in line with game theory's dynamic equilibrium, forming a "cycle of escalating competition."
"Tech giants see Artificial Intelligence as both a threat and an opportunity, and they don't have the luxury of sitting back and watching how technology develops. They must take action now."