The Nasdaq-listed stock that best encapsulates the current fervour for AI revolution reported its revenue for the quarter rose 78%. Its full fiscal-year revenue rose 114% to $130.5 billion.
That result beat market expectations, which means the giant tech bubble on Wall St will live to fight another day.
So I cheered for the survival of my KiwiSaver balance.
More importantly, I cheered because I’m very keen to see New Zealand’s fledgling economic recovery gather some steam before the world has to deal with the next major financial crisis.
The result wasn’t enough to stop Nvidia shares from falling 8% in the next day’s trading – a rough result but not as bad as the 17% and $600b wipeout in January.
That level of investor sensitivity is a salient reminder of just how precarious tech stock valuations remain.
There is a lot riding on AI actually delivering some tangible results for business this year.
Corporations are moving at speed to put AI into action and expect to see both cost savings and productivity gains.
Paradoxically that puts many workers in a position where we lose if the great AI experiment fails and we lose if it wins.
One presumes that the grand schemes of the tech company bosses include a place for humans somewhere in their new world order.
The capitalist system doesn’t work without consumers. And consumers need cashflow ... which means they need jobs.
It doesn’t matter how many zeros you add to the price of an Auckland villa, that kind of wealth can’t keep the wheels of commerce spinning.
For all the focus on inflation and interest rates and economic recovery, it strikes me that concerns about the rapid rise of AI have dominated the conversations I’m having with friends and colleagues this year.
Whether it’s business people, economists or journalists, the debate about the AI revolution is running neck and neck with Donald Trump’s wild policy onslaught for top topic in 2025.
Everything else – including domestic politics – seems to be a distant third.
I try not to come across like a Luddite in the debate. I’ve traditionally embraced new technology.
But I’m starting to empathise with old Ned Ludd.
One of the most famous examples of tech panic, the 19th-century English weaver (real name possibly Edward Luddlum), seems as relevant as ever.
Ned got very upset about the threat that mechanical knitting frames posed to his industry.
With his followers – known as Luddites – he took to rioting and smashing up textile factories all over the UK between 1811 and 1816.
In the early 19th century Britain was suffering from an economic downturn with high inflation and high unemployment – largely due to the expense of the Napoleonic wars.
The new technology was an easy target.
If the economy had been booming, then the weavers might have had better options.
But when times are already tough rapid technology change amplifies the economic uncertainty.
I can’t help but think New Zealand’s tough recessionary cycle and rising unemployment have increased the anxiety many are feeling as the AI wave hits.
Anyway, the Luddites were spectacularly unsuccessful.
Their name is now synonymous with the kind of backward angry people who can’t set up a new digital TV.
Although frankly, having already bought the telly, I don’t see why we should have to download a special app just for the privilege of making it work.
I think we all have a little Luddite in us, but these days we are painfully aware of how futile it is to try to push back against the tide of technological change.
I can’t see much enthusiasm brewing for storming the numerous data centres popping up around the country.
But a little over 200 years after Ned and his followers tried to do something about it all, here we all are dealing with a tech revolution and worrying about losing our jobs and what our children will do for a living.
Is all we’ve learned that we have no show of stopping it?
What’s the path forward then?
Well, it’s 55 years since futurist Alvin Toffler hit the nail on the head with his advice for surviving future shock:
“The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”
Investing legend Warren Buffett offers another useful angle on continuing to learn: “The best investment by far is anything that develops yourself, and it’s not taxed at all.”
That does raise questions about what we should be relearning.
A successful international businessperson recently reassured me there were just three things I needed to instil in my children: how to get on with people, how to work hard and an understanding of money.
I’m good with that.
I’ve given up worrying about what my children will do for a living in the coming decades.
I can’t pick what the jobs of the future will look like but I’m hopeful that with the right human attributes, they’ll work it out.
Leaning into our humanity makes sense to me.
In the face of an increasingly powerful, machine-driven world, it’s our only competitive advantage.
Liam Dann is business editor-at-large for the New Zealand Herald. He is a senior writer and columnist, and also presents and produces videos and podcasts. He joined the Herald in 2003. To sign up for his weekly newsletter, click on your user profile at nzherald.co.nz and select “My newsletters”. For a step-by-step guide, click here.
