New Delhi, July 18 -- "The AI bubble is actually an OpenAI bubble," AI critic and researcher Ed Zitron says, arguing that the ChatGPT maker sits in the centre of today's AI boom. If it collapses, he warns, it could become "the Lehman Brothers of the AI bubble."

"OpenAI is the reason anyone cares about AI," Zitron says and further adds, "you can talk all you want about open source models or Anthropic - but without OpenAI, the AI industry doesn't exist, and the justification for trillions of dollars of capex evaporates."

If OpenAI fails, it will be because LLM models are unprofitable, Zitron says. They spend heavily on AI infrastructure, while their subscription business and advertising revenue do not cover those costs.

"While there migh...