Walter Isaacson on the AI bubble: like the railroads, expect a great network and many bankruptcies

On Michael Smerconish's show (YouTube upload 19 October 2026), Walter Isaacson discussed AI jobs, Starlink in Ukraine and whether AI investment is a bubble.

Bubble and the railroad parallel Asked whether we are watching the dot-com movie again, Isaacson said "Absolutely", comparing today's AI spend to the railroad boom, when infrastructure investment ran at "4 5% of the GDP": "You get a country that has an amazing rail system... but 250 railway companies go bankrupt." He said "this investment of trillions of dollars in data centers is being driven by a race, but not driven by, you know, a return on investment at the moment."

Jobs and skilled trades Isaacson said AI "will certainly disrupt jobs, but in the end, as with any new technology, more productivity will mean more jobs", with demand shifting to people who build physical things, from welders to data-centre and pipeline builders, a point he made in a Washington Post piece co-written with Ford CEO Jim Farley.

Starlink and Starshield On reports about throttled service in Ukraine, he said SpaceX created Starshield, which is "totally in the control of the Pentagon", and that "the White House decides how Starshield is used". He added that Elon MuskDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → is "very mercurial, but that's why you do not want somebody like him having full power over this technology."

Source Michael Smerconish: Walter Isaacson Warns: The AI Bubble Could Be About to Burst (YouTube)