Former Cisco M&A head Mike Volpi on why he’s more optimistic about AI than the dot-com era: the internet built communication, AI is building intelligence. Guido Appenzeller: “Is there one other big difference from how it was back then, which is that everything is now much, much larger? Back then we were investing a small fraction of a percent in infrastructure for the internet. Today we’re investing 2% or so of our GDP in AI infrastructure.” Mike: “It is much bigger, but in the 100,000 feet abstraction, what is it that is being built? Back then it was communication that was being built. Today we’re building intelligence. And the economic value of intelligence is probably higher than the economic value of communication.” “I also think that, believe it or not, it’s been nearly 30 years, the markets are more efficient now, which is why so much more risk capital is willing to make its way into AI.” “So net is, I’m actually more optimistic about this cycle, but I also believe that there will be some correction and some cleaning up of the industry structure.” @appenz @mavolpi