AI: has the future begun?
AI is penetrating more and more areas of our lives and the economy – along with robot and drone technologies that were just science fiction until recently. The media takes a look at what is being created and what is being destroyed.
Dawn of a new era
Les Echos stresses that the outgoing year marks the beginning of a technological revolution:
“2025 is the year in which research will focus on new forms of AI that no longer concentrate solely on language but also on sensory perception of the world. 2025 will see the beginning of the rapid rise of self-driving vehicles that have 80 percent fewer accidents. ... 2025 is the year when robotics demonstrates that humanoid robots can be produced for tens of thousands of euros per unit. ... Investment in these technologies is far from complete, and the associated gains in terms of productivity have only just begun to develop.”
Traditional economic principles are being undermined
Asset manager Julien Descombes points in Le Temps to three economic risks posed by AI:
“Whereas up to now people have billed based on time spent working, AI produces at low cost and thereby destroys this pricing power. Second, software programmes without their own technology, which simply build on models from OpenAI or Anthropic, are doomed to fail as soon as giants such as Microsoft or Alphabet integrate these functions. And finally, the trivialisation of expertise means that certain technical skills that were once rare are now accessible to everyone. This trend reduces the profitability of professions that used to be regarded as particularly value-creating.”
This bubble might burst
Thanks to AI, the financial markets experienced a boom in 2025, but one to be approached with caution, warns Corriere della Sera:
“The bubble exists; it is real. Many confirm this – from the Federal Reserve to major banks such as JP Morgan Chase, and even the heads of the companies that created it admit as much. According to Jeff Bezos of Amazon, the bubble is harmless: should it burst, it will leave behind an IT infrastructure that will drive further technological progress. Google CEO Sundar Pichai, by contrast, warns that everyone would feel the consequences, even the most established companies. Like Google itself.”