Last updated Nov 29, 2025
Prediction
Chamath
Chamath @ 00:37:52Inconclusive
aieconomy
During the current AI-agent adoption cycle (over the next several years), typical operating expenses (opex) for companies will be reducible by roughly 50% as a result of AI agents and automation.
In this phase, the the opex of companies will probably be cut in half at the limit.View on YouTube
Explanation

As of November 30, 2025, there is not enough elapsed time or evidence to fairly judge this prediction.

  • Time horizon: Chamath’s statement is explicitly about the current AI-agent adoption cycle and framed as happening "over the next several years" and "at the limit," which implies a multi‑year, possibly decade‑scale process rather than something expected to be fully realized by 2025. Given the prediction was made in March 2024, only ~1.5 years have passed.
  • No broad 50% OPEX reduction yet: Public financials, industry surveys, and earnings commentary across sectors (S&P 500, large tech, etc.) do not show a widespread, roughly 50% reduction in operating expenses attributable to AI agents so far; instead, we see experimentation, early productivity gains, and AI-related increases in capex/opex at many firms. However, this absence of full realization is not surprising so early in the cycle.
  • Prediction is about the eventual potential, not the 2025 state: The phrasing "will probably be cut in half at the limit" is more like a long‑run equilibrium statement about what AI agents could do to typical company cost structures once fully diffused and integrated, not a claim about OPEX levels by a fixed date like 2025.

Because the prediction is explicitly long‑term and we are still in the early phase of enterprise AI-agent deployment, the correct status as of 2025‑11‑30 is “inconclusive (too early)”, not demonstrably right or wrong yet.