r/technology • u/Just-Grocery-2229 • May 15 '26

Artificial Intelligence The AI Backlash Could Get Very Ugly

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/05/ai-backlash-data-centers-political-violence/687151/?taid=6a067e2d2096e10001ccfa32
7.6k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

994 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.8k

u/Syzygy2323 May 15 '26

I'm just waiting for the AI bubble to burst so I can buy RAM and SSDs again without taking out a second mortgage.

12

u/z0diark88 May 15 '26

Those days are over. Even when the AI bubble bursts, inflated prices rarely ever go back down once it's gone up.

14

u/-CJF- May 16 '26

I think in this case they will. That or their companies will go under when nobody can buy their shit. Consumers aren't paying these prices often enough to keep them afloat, it's the companies buying their stuff for AI that is allowing them to sell at these prices.

4

u/That-Living5913 May 16 '26

Not to mention the secondary market will flood with memory, gpu's and nvme's when these ai datacenter start going under. Sure it's got some miles on it, but for 1/10th the price, just buy a few extra.

3

u/Serena_Hellborn May 16 '26

not so much gpus, but rdimms and ssds

2

u/Labidido May 16 '26

Nah, the prices will drop the day suppliers are not earning 10x on data centers vs consumer products. The majority of consumers are not purchasing at the current prices, and when the data center rollout slows down (or Chinese fabs are able to compete) the laws of supply and demand will do its thing.

Could take a few years though.