Technology writer and New York Times best-selling author Kara Swisher, who wrote “Burn Book,” expressed her skepticism about cryptocurrencies’ ability to change the world in an interview with CoinDesk’s First Mover. She described digital assets as significant but not transformational.
“The internet was a major Cambrian explosion. This is a tiny one. I guess a volcanic eruption on Indonesia,” she said on First Mover. “It’s a very important area of technology, but it’s not the most important. It’s not the center of everything.”
According to Swisher, a significant amount of “scammery” and a “huge hype cycle” have engulfed the bitcoin industry.
“Crypto people really overplayed their hand in that regard, saying it’s going to change everything,” she said. “This is a typical thing of technologists … [saying] that it’s going to change the whole world.”
According to Swisher, cryptocurrency will eventually become simply another niche in the larger tech industry, similar to many previous technological advancements that have come and gone without having a significant impact on society.
“It needs to replace something that’s better. Digital downloads of books, for instance, aren’t necessarily better than physical books, but they are very good,” she said. “[Crypto] overstepped itself, but it will settle into a nice, small corner.”
So where’s the enthusiasm going if cryptocurrency is fading away and hasn’t lived up to the lofty expectations of its most devoted practitioners?Swisher claims artificial intelligence.
AI isn’t profitable yet because “these ventures are very costly, requiring substantial investment in computing power and development,” she said. “Unlike the early internet era, where anyone could launch ventures like Uber or Airbnb inexpensively, AI requires significant capital,” she continued, citing OpenAI’s Sam Altman wanting to raise enormous sums for projects like chip manufacturing.
“Only the big companies can afford to lose this money and afford to pay for this,” she said.
But AI has captured the interest of the public and major tech companies in a way that’s taken some of the momentum away from blockchain and crypto, albeit not without its own hype and exaggerated claims similar to those seen in the crypto space.
“AI is a big deal in comparison,” she said. “It’s just that everyone has to slap AI onto their company name, and then they’re an AI company.”