Fears of an artificial intelligence bubble grow, OpenAI lowers fundraising targets

The fear that the investment boom linked to artificial intelligence could prove unsustainable is beginning to take hold more insistently on financial markets. The main concern relates to the possibility that the effects of any downsizing of the sector could rapidly spread to the entire US economy, given that growth in recent years has largely been driven precisely by the AI boom.

Against this backdrop lies the preparation for OpenAI’s stock market debut, the company that owns ChatGpt, expected on Wall Street in November with a public offering that is shaping up to be the largest in the history of financial markets. Trading is expected to begin in the week of November 16.

According to the Financial Times, OpenAI is reported to have cut its fundraising target by $10 billion, amid a general pullback in the technology sector on the markets. The figure comes as caution regarding AI-related stocks becomes more widespread on the Nasdaq, where fluctuations in the main technology indices reflect uncertainty about the sustainability of the investment levels reached in recent months.

The dual movement — on one hand the preparation of the largest public offering in history, on the other the downward revision of fundraising targets — tells the story of a sector that remains at the center of market attention but is beginning to show signs of caution even internally. It remains to be seen whether the cut announced by OpenAI reflects a strategy of prudence ahead of the listing or a broader signal about capital market conditions for AI-related companies. The most immediate test will come with the start of trading of the stock, expected in the week of November 16, when the market will give a first concrete response on the sector’s valuations.