Brace for Impact: Protecting People and the Economy When the AI Bubble Bursts

This report argues that the AI boom is one of history's largest speculative frenzies, with top U.S. tech giants spending far more on data centers and infrastructure than they earn from AI products and borrowing heavily to cover the gap. It warns that speculative data center debt is being repackaged and sold to pension funds, endowments and other institutional investors in a manner reminiscent of the subprime bubble, while private equity-owned life insurers carry risky debt. It calls on regulators, Congress and state policymakers to illuminate the industry's finances, stop subsidizing the bubble, protect retirement savings and strengthen financial resilience, while stating its purpose is not to predict a specific sequence of events or portray a crisis as inevitable.