Ready for the AI Bubble to Burst

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SPEAKER 1

To those people in my audience who may not be familiar with who you are, could you put a few words on yourself and what you're doing and so forth?

0:17

SPEAKER 2

Yeah, so my name is Baldur Bjarnason, or if you're Icelandic, Baldur Bjarnason. I don't mind either pronunciation. I've been involved in tech for... Since the mid to late 90s, when I made my first website and been working both as a software developer, as a writer, and as a researcher in various ways over the intervening years.

0:47

At the moment, I'm... working mixed capacity, still working as a developer, but also continue with the media production side of my tech empire, including a YouTube channel, which uses my name, so... No complicated branding there. And most of when it comes to the topics I covered in tech, I try to mix things.

Ready for the AI Bubble to Burst

with Baldur Bjarnason

Tobias Mark Jensen

Apr 03, 2025

Transcript

Baldur Bjarnason aka “Web dev at the end of the world” is an experienced web developer, author, and online writer based in Hveragerði, Iceland.

I have followed Baldur’s newsletter for a while now and enjoyed and found inspiration in his commentary, link dumps, and obligatory photos of cats and nature in Iceland. Baldur has very recently started a YouTube channel which is why I thought it would be a perfect timing to discuss the world situation on Futuristic Lawyer podcast.

We mainly talk about how (a) business leaders, (b) software developers, (c) politicians at the EU-level can approach AI, and namely the commercial pressure from the market to adopt AI as much and as quickly as possible.

Baldur is an informed AI skeptic and I concur with many of his viewpoints. Although I don’t think AI as a techno-political movement is inherently worthless, the excessive hype about AI on the internet and in capital markets is bound to end sourly for all -unfortunately.

I hope this conversation can contribute to taming the hype and unrealistic expectations.

Check out Baldur Bjarnason’s books 👇

Out of the Software Crisis
”Software projects keep failing, not because we don’t have the right team or tools but because our software development system is broken. Out of the Software Crisis is a guide to fixing your software projects with systems-thinking making them more resilient to change and less likely to fail.”

Yellow
”Yellow is a short ebook (around 90 pages).

In it, I outline some of the core principles that drive my work using casual and approachable language, even when I’m covering potentially complex topics such as Gall’s Law or loose coupling.”

The Intelligence Illusion
”What are the major risks to avoid with generative AI? How do you avoid having it blow up in your face? Is that even possible?

The Intelligence Illusion (Second Edition) is an exhaustively researched guide to the risks of language and diffusion models.”

Bad Writing
”Twenty-five years of writing on digital transformation, digital publishing, innovation, and software development”

See Baldur’s website 👉 https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/

See Baldur’s YouTube Channel 👉 https://www.youtube.com/@BaldurBjarnason