The Endless AI Hype Circus: Can We Finally Move On To What’s Next?

I don’t know about you, but every time I see a headline about yet another “AI model launch”, or “Could Artificial Intelligence make Government Corruption Obsolete?”, or Building AI bridges, or “Can you trust AI”, or “AI and Modern work” ect etc. I feel a little jacked. It’s like we’re stuck in some endless feedback loop of companies and bloggers trying to one-up each other in a game of generative AI brinkmanship.

This company has a new chatbot; that one has a shiny algorithm that claims to "revolutionize" something-or-other. Can we all collectively agree it’s starting to feel a bit… tired?

Don’t get me wrong; AI has been groundbreaking. It’s revolutionized industries, created efficiencies, and, yes, even given writers like me a run for our money. But we’re now at a point where every announcement feels like a carbon copy of the last. Is it a chatbot?

Cool. Can it summarize articles? Great. Does it “understand” images or generate art? Fantastic. But then what? Where’s the spark of excitement we used to feel when AI was still the mysterious, futuristic thing of sci-fi movies?

AI Fatigue Is Real

Part of the problem is that every tech giant and its startup cousin is jumping on the AI bandwagon. They’ve saturated the market with flashy product demos, hyped-up promises, and buzzwords that are losing their edge. “Transformative,” “innovative,” “revolutionary”—these words have been drained of meaning, like a song played on repeat until you can’t stand it anymore.

What makes it worse is that most of these announcements are variations on the same theme. OpenAI has a new version of GPT. Google launches a Bard update. Meta develops a generative AI for some niche tasks. Wash, rinse, repeat. It’s like the tech world has become that one guy at the party who keeps telling the same story, slightly reworded, and expects everyone to clap each time.

The Elephant in the Room: What’s Next?

The question we should all be asking is:

What comes after AI?

Sure, AI isn’t going away—it’ll keep improving, integrating into our lives, and doing its thing. But the hype cycle can’t last forever. There has to be something more, right?

We’re overdue for the next big leap. Maybe it’s quantum computing, the holy grail of processing power that’s been dangling just out of reach for years. Or perhaps it’s biotechnologies that blend human biology with machine interfaces in ways that make AI look like child’s play.

Or maybe, just maybe, it’s something entirely unexpected—something that doesn’t rely on training data or neural networks but shifts our paradigm altogether.

Why the Hype Train Won’t Stop

The tech industry has a vested interest in keeping AI at the forefront. It’s lucrative, it grabs headlines, and it convinces investors to keep pumping money into what they see as the “future.” But at what point does it start to feel like overkill?

Let’s be honest: The average person doesn’t care about the intricacies of transformer models or whether a chatbot has improved its contextual understanding by 3%. They want to know how this technology will make their lives better, easier, or at least more interesting. And that’s where the current narrative falls flat.

We’re bombarded with announcements that feel disconnected from the real world. How many times have you read about an “AI breakthrough” and thought, “Okay, but how does this actually matter to me?” AI has become a buzzword buffet that’s more about corporate chest-thumping than meaningful progress.

A Call for Something New

Here’s the thing: Humanity thrives on innovation, but it also thrives on novelty. We’re hardwired to get excited about what’s new, what’s fresh, what’s never been done before. And right now, AI feels like an overworked sequel franchise—still making money, but the magic is gone.

Maybe it’s time for tech leaders to take a step back and stop milking AI for all it’s worth. Instead, let’s invest in the next frontier, whatever that may be. Let’s push the boundaries of what’s possible in ways that don’t feel like a rehash of last year’s product launch.

The tech world loves to ask, “What’s the next big thing?” My hope is that the answer is something that reignites our collective sense of wonder. Because if I have to sit through one more keynote about how this chatbot is smarter, faster, or more “human-like” than the last, I might just tune out altogether.

So here’s to the innovators, the dreamers, and the disruptors who dare to move beyond the AI noise. The stage is set, and we’re ready for Act Two. Let’s see what you’ve got!