Why are Big Tech companies moving away from AI?

Growth at the Big Tech giants is slowing and they’re sitting on billions in cash. So, why are they not investing in AI?

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(Image credit: Qi Yang)

At first glance, it looks like an odd deal. Facebook’s owner Meta was reported last week to be looking at taking a 5% stake in the glasses manufacturer EssilorLuxottica at a cost of $5 billion or more. 

The two firms already cooperate on making the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, and while that product has hardly set the world alight, it seems the social media giant is planning to double down on its bet that one day we will all surf the web through our glasses. Over time, it may even buy the whole business. Its €90 billion valuation would hardly be out of reach for a business that is valued at $1.2 trillion. 

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.