People keep asking if the tech industry is in an AI bubble and what it would look like if it ever burst.
That question is starting to feel a little too broad. It doesn’t actually match what’s happening. Instead, it creates panic. The real question is whether we’re in an LLM bubble, not an AI one. That distinction matters more than you’d realize.
LLMs Took The Spotlight
The last few years turned LLMs into the face of AI. ChatGPT, Gemini, and every copycat tool pushed the idea that text generation is where all the value is. That shortcut caused people to believe that LLMs are the same as AI itself.
LLMs are only one category within AI. They’re not the whole field. They just feel like it is because they’re what people interact with most.
When you recognize that difference, fears of a bubble make more sense. If anything is inflated, it is the money and expectations around LLMs. The billions of dollars in funding. The corporate race to have a chatbot achieve artificial general intelligence (AGI). The idea companies are selling to investors that LLMs will replace humans. That’s where the hype is. If something bursts, this is the area that would feel it first.
AI Is More Than a Large-Language Model
AI is too diverse to collapse if the LLM bubble bursts. It stretches across biology, chemistry, physics, robotics, video, images, climate research, discovering new drugs, etc. The technology can be applied in different ways, as it continues to evolve at its own pace. If anything collapses, it will be the companies that bet everything on LLMs evolving to become something it’s not
LLMs only cover the language and pattern-recognition aspects of AI. They don’t represent the systems that simulate proteins. They don’t represent the models that design new molecules. They don’t represent quantum optimization or audio synthesis. All of these areas will keep moving even if the hype around LLM simmers out.
The Problem In Mislabeling the Bubble
Calling this an AI bubble creates the illusion that the entire field is unstable. It causes people to think every advancement LLMs make is representative of AI, as a whole, is heading.
That’s not true.
When it comes to AI, progress is slow and unglamorous. It doesn’t rise or fall with the buzz surrounding chatbots.
If there is a bubble, it’s because companies expect LLMs to be capable of doing everything. That they define the limits of AI. When this belief breaks, the market corrects itself, but the field won’t disappear.
We’re not in an AI bubble. We’re in an LLM bubble. Pointing that out doesn’t affect AI’s momentum. It actually does the tech a favor by separating progress from short-term hype. AI has been around for too long. It’s essential for too many scientific and industrial systems to just disappear. The future of AI is still expanding.
