Ron DeSantis repeats AI bubble warnings, questions sector’s profitability

Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to question the value of artificial intelligence amid what he calls a “period of economic uncertainty for this country,” saying a collapse in the sector could create “shock waves” with cascading effects.

During a press conference in Crystal River, the tech-skeptic Chief Executive again chafed at equity markets too reliant on the technology and the outsized impact of the companies.

“I think if you look around, so much of this … driving the stock market and all this is basically these big tech companies, the Magnificent Seven, and it’s all about artificial intelligence,” DeSantis said.

Indeed, the “Mag 7” market cap is now 35%, roughly triple what it was a decade ago. These companies include Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla, all of which have driven an AI rally. Over the past decade, these stocks have increased in value sevenfold.

But equity values aren’t everything to DeSantis.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty because they’re projecting, you know, profits on the back of this,” DeSantis said.

He noted that cashflow doesn’t mean money is made. “They’re spending all this money,” DeSantis added.

”They’re building a data center in Louisiana that’s the size of Manhattan. They’re doing it in these other places, and it’s like, OK, you need this infrastructure, you’ve got to have all this for computing. But the problem is, you know, something like OpenAI, they’re not making a lot of money. I mean, they’re not making any net profit.

The Governor went on to say that “if that doesn’t pan out, then they’re going to start to see all kinds of shock waves go through the entire economy.”

DeSantis has been an advocate of statewide regulations for the technology, a position that puts him at odds with President Donald Trump’s belief that federal preemption is necessary.