Ed Zitron Warns $1 Trillion AI Buildout Is Unsustainable as OpenAI Burned $20.9 Billion in 2025
Updated
Updated · Vanity Fair · Sep 1
Ed Zitron Warns $1 Trillion AI Buildout Is Unsustainable as OpenAI Burned $20.9 Billion in 2025
3 articles · Updated · Vanity Fair · Sep 1
Summary
OpenAI burned $20.9 billion in 2025, Ed Zitron said, arguing top AI firms have huge valuations but still lack a viable path to durable profits.
More than $1 trillion has already gone into the AI buildout, he said, while flat-fee products like ChatGPT and Claude can leave heavy users consuming far more compute than they pay for.
Anthropic’s reported profitable quarter was flattered by discounted compute from SpaceX for May and June, Zitron argued, while attempts to charge more per token have met customer resistance.
Big tech and neocloud financing has also become circular, he said, with investments and contracts helping justify more debt and GPU purchases rather than proving end-user demand.
Zitron said the risk is broader than a tech-sector setback: if funding or payments seize up, retail investors and the wider economy could absorb the fallout from an AI bubble.
With AI companies burning billions more than they earn, could flat-fee subscriptions trigger a catastrophic market collapse in 2026?
If AI giants are quietly recycling billions through their own investors, what happens to the tech industry when this circular financing finally breaks?
Are tech titans building the next internet, or merely inflating a trillion-dollar bubble fueled by debt and discounted computing power?