Bill Gurley on AI bubble: A bunch of people got rich quick and a reset is coming

<p>Benchmark general partner <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/02/24/watch-cnbcs-full-interview-with-benchmark-general-partner-bill-gurley.html">Bill Gurley</a> on Monday said the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/ai-effect/">artificial intelligence</a> wave is real and a lot of people got rich quick, but he expects a "reset" to come.</p>
<p>"When people get rich quick, a whole bunch of people come in and want to get rich too, and that's why we end up with <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/21/are-we-in-an-ai-bubble.html">bubbles</a>," Gurley told CNBC's "<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/money-movers/">Money Movers</a>."</p>
<p>Gurley referenced the work of <a href="https://carlotaperez.org/">Carlota Perez</a>, an economic scholar who wrote "Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages," and noted that "bubbles only exist when the actual wave is real."</p>
<p>The venture capitalist said that when the reset happens, investors should have a price in mind for beat-down software-as-a-service stocks, "and start gobbling them up."</p>
<p>AI has threatened to disrupt segments across the economy, but software stocks have been particularly hard-hit recently. <a href="/quotes/CRM/">Salesforce</a> and <a href="/quotes/NOW/">ServiceNow</a> have each lost about 25% so far in 2026. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF<a href="/quotes/IGV/"> (IGV)</a>, which generally tracks the sector, is down about 20% this year.</p>
<p>Tech companies are spending at record rates, due to massive investments in AI infrastructure and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/10/micron-ai-memory-shortage-hbm-nvidia-samsung.html">soaring memory costs</a>. AI spending for <a href="/quotes/AMZN/">Amazon</a>, <a href="/quotes/META/">Meta</a>, <a href="/quotes/GOOGL/">Google</a> and <a href="/quotes/MSFT/">Microsoft</a> is projected to be about <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/06/google-microsoft-meta-amazon-ai-cash.html">$700 billion this year</a>.</p>
<p>Benchmark was an early investor in <a href="/quotes/UBER/">Uber</a>, and Gurley played a key role in the exit of then-CEO <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/14/bill-gurley-2017-profile-uber-stitchfix-snap.html">Travis Kalanick</a> in 2017.</p>
<p>Gurley said Uber's annual burn rate of $2 billion during his involvement was "high anxiety" as he pointed to the much higher numbers from today's big model companies.<br/>"God bless them," Gurley said of AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI that are burning through cash. "It's a scary way to run a company."</p>