AI feels like a real mania, a genuine collective break from reality among the ruling class. They might as well be pouring billions of dollars into an attempt to replace all jobs and knowledge with a large bronze idol of Dagon.
you're absolutely not being hyperbolic. when i first started writing my cyberpunk satire about this whole madness, some of the first dialogue i wrote was to spoof this whole vibe:
“...more like a cult eager to bear witness to the birth of their own personal god.”