RUTH SUNDERLAND: AI hype needs a reality check

Ruth Sunderland argues that AI’s promise needs a “reality check,” pointing to both practical failures and broader market signals. She describes testing an AI diary assistant that missed key items like BP’s sale of its North Sea operations and produced absurd mistakes, including sending her to lunch two days early with Peel Hunt CEO Steven Fine and calling Andy Burnham the Prime Minister. Sunderland links the current calm in the AI investment world to higher risk elsewhere, citing the 24-year-old Leopold Aschenbrenner’s portfolio being sold to Citadel after heavy losses. She says investors are returning to traditional FTSE 100 areas—oil, banking and engineering—helped by five-year total returns of 85% versus 80% for the S&P and 75% for the Nasdaq.