February 23, 2026
Hype train, empty gains
AI Added 'Basically Zero' to US Economic Growth Last Year, Goldman Sachs Says
Billions spent, zero boost? Commenters roast the hype while others say it’s just too soon
TLDR: Goldman Sachs says last year’s massive AI spending added virtually nothing to U.S. economic growth, partly because much of the gear is imported and productivity gains are murky. Commenters are split between mocking the hype, crying bias, and preaching patience until the grifters wash out.
Goldman Sachs just tossed a bucket of cold water on the AI party, saying all that giant spending on chips and data centers added “basically zero” to U.S. growth last year. Why? Much of the hardware is imported, so the money boosts places like Taiwan and South Korea, not U.S. GDP. And there’s still no good way to measure real productivity from chatbots and copilots. Cue the internet meltdown. The top-voted vibe: AI hype is “vibeslop”—flashy demos, no bottom-line gains. One user sneered, “no one’s buying your vibeslop,” while another predicted this report “will be ignored as biased” by true believers. The skeptics cheered Goldman for saying the quiet part out loud. The optimists fired back with history: remember early takes that the 1990s “world wide web” wasn’t moving GDP? Give it time. Meanwhile, policy drama bubbled up: Trump used the “AI = growth engine” line to argue for one national rule instead of 50 state rules on tech, but Goldman’s take undercuts the “AI is propping up the economy” storyline. Some say that’s actually good news—the economy’s strength looks normal, not AI-fueled. Others want the hype cycle to pop so the “cash grabbers” exit, real engineers take over, and we finally build useful tools. Links: Washington Post, Atlantic Council, Truth Social
Key Points
- •Goldman Sachs’ Jan Hatzius says AI investment contributed “basically zero” to U.S. GDP growth in 2025.
- •Heavy AI equipment imports (chips, hardware) mean U.S. spending adds more to Taiwanese and Korean GDP than to U.S. GDP.
- •Earlier analyses credited AI-related investment with large shares of GDP growth (92% in H1; 39% in Q3 2025).
- •Tech companies plan around $700 billion in data center spending to support advanced AI models.
- •A survey of ~6,000 executives shows 70% use AI, but ~80% report no impact on employment or productivity.