A.I.

What scares AI investors the most about their own bets

From chip shortages to bubble fears, AI investors reveal what keeps them up at night as the stakes keep rising

ByAlex Daniel

Published 15 hours ago|Updated 11 hours ago

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Philip Dulian/picture alliance via Getty Images

For much of the past two years the dominant question in AI has been how big the opportunity is. More recently, attention has turned to what could go wrong. Through the second half of 2025, warnings about an AI bubble grew harder to ignore, with sharp market swings, eye-watering valuations, and circular investments sparking comparisons to the dot-com bust. Yet the sums pouring into the sector keep growing.

That leaves investors in an uneasy position. AI is too important and fast-moving to ignore – but if the boom falters, they will be the ones to take the hit. Heading into 2026, we asked the people writing the checks what worries them most.

What could derail the boom

Guru Chahal, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, which manages about $35 billion, said the prospect of another global shock hitting the economy is enough to “keep me up at night,” after five years already shaped by Covid, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

You wouldn’t know it from the firm’s recent activity. Lightspeed, an early backer of Anthropic, Elon Musk’s xAI and French AI challenger Mistral,........

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