Move to San Francisco and it’s laborious to not be swept up by mania over artificial intelligence (AI). Ads inform you how the tech will revolutionise your office. In bars individuals speculate about when the world will “get AGI”, or when machines will grow to be extra superior than people. The 5 large tech companies—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft, all of which have both headquarters or outposts close by—are investing huge sums. This yr they’re budgeting an estimated $400bn for capital expenditures, totally on AI-related {hardware}, and for analysis and improvement.