Through the end of June, about $3.2 trillion in AI deals have occurred this year, a 45 percent jump from a year earlier, according to Dealogic, and the most spent on deal-making over a half-year period in at least a decade. Of these, 44 deals were larger than $10 billion, including takeovers. The article questions whether this is a bubble, noting that AI will destroy millions of jobs and decimate the American middle class. Cisco, Block, Coinbase, HP, IBM, and Salesforce have cited AI as a reason for mass layoffs. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned that AI will produce labor market disruptions larger and longer-lasting than any previous technological shift. Short-seller Carson Block predicted AI-driven job losses could eliminate 15 percent of knowledge worker positions within three years. The article argues that AI corporations are of little value without enough demand for AI products and services, but if AI erodes the middle class and working class, demand is uncertain.