Chapter 1
The great 2026 cash burn
Chapter 2
Echoes of the dot-com crash
Chapter 3
The circular money loop
Chapter 4
The race to go public
YOUR GOAL
Master of The AI bubble
Ch 1 · The great 2026 cash burn
marcus The great 2026 cash burn
The AI dream, it's burning fast. All that capital, built to truly last? A market's question, on everyone's mind now.
marcus Companies adopting artificial intelligence are struggling to find clear financial benefits.
Fun Fact
Token costs: Running a complex autonomous AI agent task can burn as much data processing as reading an entire 300-page novel.
Glossary
cash burn (noun)
The rate at which a company spends its cash reserves before achieving profitability. In Q1 2026, OpenAI spent $3.7 billion, representing more than half of its quarterly revenue.
The rate at which a company spends its cash reserves before achieving profitability. In Q1 2026, OpenAI spent $3.7 billion, representing more than half of its quarterly revenue.
Quiz
What technology shift in late 2025 dramatically increased the amount of data tokens consumed by AI?
Quiz
What percentage of corporate CEOs in early 2026 reported seeing no clear financial benefits from AI deployment?
Quiz
According to the International Energy Agency, how much could global data center electricity consumption reach by 2026?
Quiz
What is the primary physical hardware component driving the massive capital expenditures of tech giants in 2026?
Quiz
How much did the top four tech giants spend on capital expenditures in 2025, prior to the 2026 surge?
Quiz
How much are the top four tech giants projected to spend on AI-related capital expenditures in 2026?