Google’s investment in AI has pumped so much money into AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI and into data centres to run AI with expensive ‘chips’ made by Nvidia, that its huge cash revenues are no longer covering the cost of investment. But such is the size of the AI investment boom being conducted by these hyperscalers, that even these profits are being sucked into AI like water disappearing into the Sahara desert. Most of the acceleration in labour productivity growth comes from faster growth of what mainstream economics calls total factor productivity (TFP). Any observable improvement “largely reflects persistent differences across industries rather than a measurable acceleration in productivity growth attributable to AI”. But only 2% of S&P 500 companies mentioned AI productivity during Q1 2026 earnings calls.