Silicon Valley thinks the American dream is dying. “Last chance” to make a fortune. Money, an outdated notion

Many dreams were born in Silicon Valley. Some have changed the world, others have remained mere obsessions discussed on forums and in hacker homes. Today, one of those ideas — once fringe — is beginning to be voiced more and more often: the artificial intelligence boom could be the last chance to make a fortune before money as we know it loses its meaning.

The fear among entrepreneurs and investors is that big tech companies and their leaders will become a class apart with virtually unlimited resources. For the rest of society, say the most pessimistic, opportunities to generate income would disappear as artificial intelligence takes over jobs and economic initiative, writes The Wall Street Journal.

In other words, the bridge of the American dream would be lifted. Those who fail to make it “beyond” in time risk being permanently on the wrong side.

At first glance, it looks like a scenario taken from science fiction literature. And yet, the mere fact that this idea is circulating explains some of the social anxieties increasingly visible in California: the pressure to tax billionaires, the affordable housing crisis and the growing sense that a middle-class life is hard, if not impossible, to achieve.

Fear of being left behind

In San Francisco, these fears no longer seem abstract. They are fueled by figures like Elon Musk, the rapid rise of OpenAI's Sam Altman, and the warnings issued by Dario Amodei, the founder of Anthropic, who speak of the risk of a massive dislocation of the workforce, comparable to the Great Economic Crisis.

“The transition will be painful,” Elon Musk recently said in a podcast. “We will have radical change, social upheaval and immense prosperity.”

It is, paradoxically, Musk's optimistic scenario.

History shows that every technological revolution has created winners and losers. Proponents of artificial intelligence point out that, as a rule, progress has raised the standard of living for the majority. This time, however, the discussion is moving into a darker area: massive job losses and the need for social safety nets like universal basic income.

But the idea of ​​a state-guaranteed income runs counter to one of America's cultural pillars: the belief that success comes from work, initiative and personal merit.

Money, an outdated notion?

Sam Altman, the director of OpenAI, was reserved about this scenario. “People need autonomy, the feeling that they can influence the future,” he said last year. “If you say AI is going to do everything and everyone is going to get a dividend, I don't think it's going to be healthy for society.”

In the view of some tech leaders, money itself could become irrelevant in a world of AI-generated abundance. Musk suggested that rare assets like art could become the new benchmarks of value. Robots would take over manual labor, while humans would live in an era of “high universal income.”

“If there is no more scarcity of resources, it is not clear what role money has,” Musk said last year. More recently, he argued that retirement savings could become useless as AI will provide essential services from health to entertainment.

Bold claims from a man who demanded a trillion-dollar pay package at Tesla, claiming it's not about money, it's about control.

“Last chance” to make a fortune

For many in the tech community, the message seeping through the lines is simple: get rich now or risk never having the chance again.

A young employee at an artificial intelligence startup summed up this state of mind in an interview with local media: “This is the last chance to build a fortune that will pass from generation to generation. You have to make money now, before you become part of a permanent underclass.”

The message is reminiscent of the speculative investment fever of yesteryear, when the slogan was “YOLO” – you invest everything, without looking back.

In recent months, social media has amplified this anxiety, circulating fake quotes attributed to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang that 2025-2030 would be the “last big chance” for ordinary people to get rich through technology. In reality, Huang talked about the potential of artificial intelligence to reduce inequality, not increase it.

The gold of the new boom

Adding to the confusion is the expectation of spectacular IPOs of AI companies, such as OpenAI or Anthropic, which could create new millionaires overnight.

After The New York Times reported on a wave of major IPOs expected this year, a San Francisco real estate agent took to social media with a simple message: “Buy your house now.”

For some entrepreneurs, real estate investing seems like a safety net in a world that is changing too fast. For others, they're just another bet on the idea that the “mother of all tech booms” is about to begin.

The message, said more or less explicitly, is the same: if you want a part of the future, hurry.