Three years ago today, on November 30, 2022, OpenAI introduced a conversational model named ChatGPT, a launch that would subsequently reshape the technology and business landscapes. The tool became a global phenomenon, sparking a massive wave of generative AI products and fundamentally altering how we interact with digital information.
A Societal Shift and Workforce Precarity
The impact of ChatGPT extends far beyond corporate applications. Karen Hao, author of “Empire of AI,” argued in an interview that OpenAI has “already grown more powerful than pretty much any nation-state in the world,” and is now “rewiring our geopolitics, all of our lives.”
This rapid rewiring has created a sense of instability. Writing for The Atlantic, Charlie Warzel described the current era as “the world ChatGPT built,” defined by a pervasive precarity and a feeling of “perpetually waiting for a shoe to drop.”
This uncertainty affects all generations. “Young generations feel this instability acutely as they prepare to graduate into a workforce about which they are cautioned that there may be no predictable path to a career,” Warzel noted. “Older generations, too, are told that the future might be unrecognizable, that the marketable skills they’ve honed may not be relevant.”
The AI Effect on Public Markets
The generative AI boom has had a staggering effect on the stock market. Chipmaker Nvidia has emerged as the most prominent beneficiary, with its stock soaring an incredible 979% since ChatGPT’s launch.
The enthusiasm has also lifted other technology giants. The seven most valuable companies on the S&P 500—Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Broadcom—have seen their collective growth account for nearly half of the benchmark’s 64% increase over the past three years. This has led to a more top-heavy market, with these seven firms now comprising 35% of the S&P 500’s weighting, up from approximately 20% three years ago.
Bubble or Boom? Leadership Weighs In
Amid the market frenzy, even the industry’s top executives are acknowledging the possibility of a bubble.
“Someone is going to lose a phenomenal amount of money in AI,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated at a dinner with journalists in August.
Bret Taylor, CEO of Sierra and OpenAI board chair, echoed this sentiment, agreeing that we are “in a bubble” comparable to the dot-com era of the late 1990s. However, he remains optimistic about the long-term outlook, predicting that while some companies may fail, “AI will transform the economy, and I think it will, like the internet, create huge amounts of economic value in the future.”
The MENA Perspective On The AI Revolution
While the major players are based in the West, the generative AI wave has profoundly impacted the MENA region’s tech ecosystem. Governments across the Gulf, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have launched ambitious national AI strategies, viewing the technology as a cornerstone of their economic diversification plans.
This top-down push has fueled a bottom-up surge in activity. Venture capitalists in MENA are increasingly prioritizing AI-native startups, and a new generation of founders is building solutions tailored for regional needs, from Arabic-language large language models (LLMs) to AI-powered platforms for logistics, finance, and healthcare. The global AI boom has legitimized the sector, creating significant opportunities for local talent and attracting international investment into the region.
About OpenAI
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company. Its mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI)—AI systems that are generally smarter than humans—benefits all of humanity. The company is known for developing large-scale AI models such as GPT-4 and DALL-E.
Source: TechCrunch
