US tech giants' hidden AI debt swells 90% to $3.2T in 6 months

Re:US tech giants' hidden AI debt swells 90% to $3.2T in 6 m... by lenerdenator on Tuesday November 03, 2026 @08:03PM (#50360349)

> Tech giants before the AI boom made a heck of a lot of cash that they had nothing they could do with it. Remember before AI when the existential crisis was stock buybacks? That was a bunch of companies who had so much profit that all they could think to do with it was buy their own stock back.

I'm just spitballing here, so bear with me, but maybe increasing the value returned to the people doing the actual work that created the profit in the first place.

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Re:US tech giants' hidden AI debt swells 90% to $3.2T in 6 m... by misterderpie on Tuesday November 03, 2026 @08:19PM (#50360443)

> increasing the value returned to the people doing the actual work that created the profit in the first place

Tangentially reminds me of the Costco Hot Dog story. [0] We know that companies rather increase prices for consumers to have better balance sheets, than changing product strategies, and for sure we know actual workers get the shortest end of the stick.

[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costco_hot_dog#Cultural_impact

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Re:US tech giants' hidden AI debt swells 90% to $3.2T in 6 m... by ospray on Tuesday November 03, 2026 @08:29PM (#50360505)

Or hand out money to investors as dividends was they way public companies used to handle profits.

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