Many fears of an AI bubble had hit a fever pitch at the start of this year when Chinese start-up DeepSeek released a competitive reasoning model.

Sam Altman’s remarks come amid growing concerns by analysts and industry stakeholders about the pace of investment in AI and data centres moving too fast.

Sam Altman described artificial intelligence as a “bubble,” but also said the technology was “the most important thing to happen in a very long time.” Investors are chasing “a kernel of truth” but are “overexcited” about AI,