The same giant companies that dominate the stock market are pouring almost unimaginable sums into artificial intelligence, and the figures are hard to picture.
According to Goldman Sachs, building the computers, data centers, and power that AI needs could cost about $7.6 trillion between 2026 and 2031. Morgan Stanley puts data-center construction alone near $2.9 trillion through 2028, and says AI is already driving roughly a quarter of all U.S. economic growth this year. Meta alone has told investors it plans to spend well over $100 billion in a single year, more than the yearly economic output of many entire countries.
Some compare the moment to the arrival of electricity or the railroads, the kind of rebuilding that reshapes an economy once in a century.
Yet no one knows how it ends. Experts disagree about whether the spending will pay off. According to a report from MIT, about 95 percent of company AI projects have so far returned nothing.
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.