Every time a new technology reshapes the world, investors make the same mistake.

They assume it’s a bubble.

And when they think of bubbles, they think of 1999 and 2000.

Back then, anything with “.com” in its name could raise money and soar in the stock market, even if the business had no real revenue, profits, or plan.

Investors piled into companies like Pets.com, famous for its sock puppet mascot but infamous for burning through cash selling pet food online at a loss.

Webvan tried to revolutionize grocery delivery before logistics technology was ready and collapsed under its own spending.

eToys, once valued in the billions, couldn’t survive once capital markets tightened.

Many of these companies had great ideas, but terrible business models.

When the bubble burst, most disappeared.

So today, when investors see massive spending on AI infrastructure, they instinctively ask:

“Is this another bubble?”

I think they have it backwards.

The companies leading the AI buildout look nothing like Pets.com, Webvan, or eToys.

The AI revolution is being funded and built by the most profitable companies in history.

Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta aren’t speculative startups chasing dreams.

They’re cash machines with balance sheets stronger than most countries.

These companies are spending tens of billions not because they need hype to survive, but because they already dominate their industries and see AI as the next growth engine.

In fact, what’s happening today might be the opposite of a bubble.

Instead of AI stocks being bid up blindly, Wall Street seems to be assuming AI will destroy everything else.

Software stocks are down roughly 50% in many cases as investors fear AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini will replace traditional enterprise software.

Commercial real estate stocks fell sharply this week on fears AI will reduce office demand further.

Wealth management companies sold off on concerns AI could automate advisory services.

Trucking and logistics stocks tumbled Thursday after the release of AI freight tools by a company that made karaoke machines up until August.

Shares of C.H. Robinson Worldwide and RXO dropped roughly 20% and 25%, respectively.

In other words, markets are already pricing in massive disruption to the downside.

That’s not what bubbles look like.

Bubbles happen when investors assume everything will work and buy stocks at any price.

Right now, investors seem convinced AI will destroy huge swaths of existing businesses.

And that pessimism may be going too far.

After the dot-com crash, it was easy to see where investors went wrong: too many speculative companies without real businesses traded at absurd valuations.

After the AI cycle plays out, I suspect we’ll look back and see the opposite mistake.

Too many profitable, high-quality companies were sold off because investors feared AI disruption that proved slower, smaller, or more manageable than expected.

If that turns out to be true, today’s selloff could look less like a warning sign and more like a buying opportunity.