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Everyone's wondering if, and when, the AI bubble will pop. Here's what went down 25 years ago that ultimately burst the dot-com boom | Fortune


Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg have acknowledged the parallels, which begs the question: Are we watching history repeat itself?

The federal funds rate climbed from around 4.7% in early 1999 to 6.5% by May 2000, making speculative investments less attractive as investors could earn higher returns from safer bonds. The second catalyst was a broader economic recession that began in Japan in March 2000, triggering global market fears and accelerating the flight from risky assets. As history shows, even transformative technologies can’t escape the gravitational pull of economics—so while the internet did change the world, it didn’t happen as quickly as some of its early champions promised, and several of those people who got ahead of themselves were humbled in the process.

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