On November 30, 2022, OpenAI launched a new offering, humbly describing it as “a model referred to as ChatGPT, which engages in a conversational manner.”

It’s not an exaggeration to claim that ChatGPT subsequently revolutionized the realms of business and technology, gaining immense popularity — it continues to hold the top position in Apple’s free app rankings today — while also acting as the trigger for an influx of generative AI solutions.

It has even made individuals wary of the em dash, which no chatbot will ever take from me.

In fact, “Empire of AI” author Karen Hao contended in a recent discussion with TechCrunch that OpenAI has “already become more influential than almost any nation-state globally,” and is currently “reshaping our geopolitics, impacting all of our lives.”

There could be even more significant transformations ahead. Charlie Warzel wrote in The Atlantic that we are presently inhabiting “the world ChatGPT constructed,” characterized by a specific kind of uncertainty and is “constantly anticipating a calamity.”

“Younger generations experience this instability keenly as they get ready to enter a workforce where they are warned that predictable career paths may not exist,” Warzel stated. “Older generations, likewise, are informed that the future could be unrecognizable, and the skills they have developed may not hold value.”

Naturally, some hold a more positive view of an AI-dominated future, and indeed stand to gain significantly from it. Yet in Warzel’s account, the AI advocates and investors are waiting along with everyone else — waiting to determine if their investments yield returns, but also waiting “because a defining characteristic of generative AI, as per its fervent supporters, is that it is never in its ultimate form.”

In the meantime, Bloomberg examined how ChatGPT has reshaped the stock market. The most apparent beneficiary thus far has been Nvidia, with its stock soaring 979% since the chatbot’s debut. However, AI enthusiasm has also lifted other major tech firms, with the seven most valuable entities on the S&P 500 — Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Broadcom — all connected to technology, and their combined growth accounting for nearly half of the benchmark’s 64% rise since the launch of ChatGPT.

This has contributed to a more top-heavy marketplace. The S&P 500 is weighted based on market capitalization, and these same seven firms now represent 35% of the weighting, compared to about 20% three years prior.

How long will this growth endure? With the notable exception of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, it has become increasingly typical for AI leaders to admit that we could be experiencing a bubble (or, if you prefer, a “mania”).

 “Someone will end up losing a tremendous amount of money in AI,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman remarked in August, during a dinner with journalists.

Likewise, Sierra CEO and OpenAI board chair Bret Taylor concurred that we are “in a bubble,” comparing it to the dot-com boom of the late ‘90s. While certain companies may falter, he forecasted, “AI will revolutionize the economy, and I believe it will, like the internet, generate substantial economic value in the future.”

In another three years — or less — we may find out whether that optimism was justified.