Major AI Companies Aren't Even Pretending to Make Money

"In a way, Silicon Valley has always asked investors to suspend disbelief to fund pie-in-the-sky projects, but the AI boom calls for something closer to a full break from financial reality. It's 2026. Last year, investors lavished $80 billion on foundation AI companies - the ones building huge, general-purpose AI systems. They all have yet to even break even, let alone turn a profit. That being the case, you may ask yourself: is anyone even trying to make money from all this AI stuff?"

"In order to keep track of who 's doing what in the AI space, Brandom came up with a five-levelscale to grade AI companies. Of course, with so few projects actually bringing in revenue, financial success isn't very helpful for tracking performance. Instead, Brandom went with a vibes-based system, rating companies based on how hard they're trying to make money. "The idea here is to measure ambition, not success," he writes. The scale maxes out at level five - "we are already making millions of dollars every day, thank you very much" - and goes down to level one, where "true wealth is when you love yourself.""

"Brandom starts with humans&, a relatively quiet AI company with a name that looks like a typo which has received plenty of good press lately. Despite raising $480 million for a valuation of $4.48 billion, the company has yet to articulate an actual product it plans on shipping, earning it a rating of level three, meaning "we have many promising product ideas, which will be revealed in the fullness of time.""

In 2026, investors poured $80 billion into foundation AI companies building large, general-purpose systems that remain unprofitable. Many AI firms prioritize long-term ambition and vision over immediate revenue, prompting a vibes-based grading system that measures intent to monetize rather than financial success. The grading scale ranges from level five, indicating substantial daily revenue, down to level one, indicating a rejection of commercial aims. Examples include a well-funded company lacking a concrete product and a superintelligence-focused outfit that turned down a $32 billion acquisition despite generating no revenue.

Read at Futurism