"Over the past few months, we've seen a surge of skepticism around the phenomenon currently referred to as the "AI boom." The shift began when OpenAI released GPT-5 this summer to mixed reviews, mostly from casual users. We've since had months of breathless claims from pundits and influencers that the era of rapid AI advancement is ending, that AI scaling has hit the wall, and that the AI boom is just another tech bubble. These same voices overuse the phrase "AI slop" to disparage the remarkable images, documents, videos, and code that AI models produce at the touch of a button."
"By any objective measure, AI continues to improve at a stunning pace. The impressive leap in capabilities made by Gemini 3 in November is just the latest example. No, AI scaling has not hit the wall. In fact, I can't think of another technology that has advanced this quickly at any point during my lifetime, and I started programming in 1982. The computer on my desk today runs thousands of times faster and has a million times more memory than my first PC (a TRS-80 model III), and yet, today's rate of AI advancement leaves me dizzy."
"So why has the public latched onto the narrative that AI is stalling, that the output is slop, and that the AI boom is just another tech bubble that lacks justifiable use-cases? I believe it's because society is collectively entering the first stage of grief - denial - over the very scary possibility that we humans may soon lose cognitive supremacy to artificial systems. Believe me, I know this future is hard to accept. I've been writing about the destabilizing and demoralizing risks of superintelligence for well over a decade, and I also feel overwhelmed by the changes racing toward us."
Skepticism about an "AI boom" surged after GPT-5's release to mixed reviews, with pundits claiming AI advancement is ending and outputs are "AI slop." Critics describe the AI boom as a tech bubble lacking justifiable use-cases, even as models produce remarkable images, documents, videos, and code. AI capabilities continued to advance rapidly, exemplified by a significant leap in Gemini 3. Scaling has not stalled, and the pace of improvement feels unprecedented compared with past technologies. Public narratives of stalling reflect collective denial about potentially losing human cognitive supremacy, alongside longstanding concerns about superintelligence risks.
Read at Big Think
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