Is AI Overhyped Or Underhyped? 6 Tips To Separate Fact From Fiction
ZDNET, Tuesday, July 29th, 2025
Two leading authorities on the AI wave disagree on its potential impact.
Who do you believe when it comes to the potential impact of artificial intelligence? An MIT Nobel laureate economist or the former CEO of the world's biggest tech company?
MIT economist Daron Acemoglu, for his part, says the current hype is way over the top. AI might profitably automate only 5% of tasks and add just 1% to global GDP over the coming decade, he said in a recent MIT Sloan presentation. Acemoglu also asserted that AI's potential is less clear than the internet's was when it began to proliferate in the 1990s. Currently, he added, AI is seen as a cost‑cutting tool rather than as a new force for innovation, as was the internet in its early days.