This Billionaire Investor Says AI Revolution Is 'Terrifying' — But He's Betting Billions On It: 'Jobs Of 15 People Done By A Chatbot' – Benzinga
Starwood Capital CEO Barry Sternlicht is the latest billionaire investor to sound alarms over the AI gold rush, warning that the rapid expansion of data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) could come with unsettling economic and social costs.
Speaking on CNBC's Property Play, the real estate titan said his firm has “$20 billion dedicated” to the data center space but cautioned that AI's speed of disruption “is terrifying,” noting that “jobs of 15 people can be done with a chatbot that costs $36 a month.”
“There's no question AI is going to change the entire world and do it much faster than anything we've ever seen before, much faster than the internet, certainly faster than the Industrial Revolution,” Sternlicht said.
Earlier this month, Geoffrey Hinton, dubbed the “Godfather of AI,” said that artificial intelligence firms are placing bets on the widespread replacement of jobs to maximize their profits. “I believe that to make money you're going to have to replace human labor,” Hinton said.
See also: Jamie Dimon Says You Can’t Look At AI As A Bubble: ‘People Should Stop…’
With artificial intelligence-driven spending leading to record deals and valuations, everyone is weighing in on the AI boom and potential bust.
The deal and spending euphoria are drawing parallels to the dotcom bubble of the late 1990s and even the 2008 financial crisis, while some see it as a solid underlying technology with great potential.
But, after a brutal week that saw over $1 trillion erased from the market value of the Magnificent Seven, with Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) alone shedding more than $500 billion, fresh fears of an AI-driven bubble are gripping Wall Street.
On the same show, Fifth Wall Ventures CEO Brendan Wallace added that the financial web tying hyperscalers, infrastructure providers, and AI startups is opaque and potentially unsustainable. If every announced AI data center came online, he said, “the compute required might equate to 120% of U.S. GDP.”
READ NEXT:
Image via Shutterstock
© 2025 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
A newsletter built for market enthusiasts by market enthusiasts. Top stories, top movers, and trade ideas delivered to your inbox every weekday before and after the market closes.
