"What Happens if the A.I. Bubble Bursts" Article Reflection No. 190 (9/27/2026)
Reflection:
The New York Times opinion article “What Happens if the A.I. Bubble Bursts” by journalist Bethany McLean discusses the economic investment facet of AI technology, emphasizing the large scale of the technology along with its role in US politics today. According to the article, leaders in the AI sector have called for the government to financially support the development of these technologies. Through the article McLean argues that, with the potential negative events that may result from this expansion of AI, it is key for there to be a preparation stage in case something catastrophic happens (the comparison made in the article is to the 2008 financial downfall). To my understanding, the article also urges against the idea of having extensively powerful corporations, with the need for the prioritization of careful discussion on where the government should significantly provide this monetary support.
I want to explore this topic of AI technology and its influences on politics. A factor that, frankly, I had not considered substantially is the idea of how this journey of developing AI is directly relevant to global competition between nations. I wonder about the “distribution” of interests politicians and leaders have behind developing AI: for example, is it primarily for this competition with other nations? Or, is it a more domestic smaller-scale interest of ways to bring economic growth to the states? Speaking of scales—how do politicians’ interests and stances regarding AI vary across local, regional, state-level, and national-level governments in the US? Are there any associations between specific AI stances and other political issues, similar to how there tend to be associations between certain ideologies and specific political stances that are thought to come hand-in-hand with those ideologies?