AI's Coming-of-Age Moment: From Hype and Vision to Business Questions

NYU valuation professor Aswath Damodaran published a lengthy article proposing a four-stage framework for revolutionary change, arguing that AI is currently entering its coming-of-age phase, shifting from investment and infrastructure building to commercial implementation. The article notes that since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, the Mag Seven contributed 45% of the total increase in U.S. stock market capitalization from 2022 to 2025. Six leading AI companies have cumulatively spent $1.7 trillion in capital expenditures, while the current upper bound of total revenue from AI products and services is only about $250 billion.