AI Skeptic Ed Zitron's Predictions Graded: How Accurate?
Original: How accurate have Ed Zitron's AI skeptic predictions been?
Why This Matters
Fact-checking prominent tech skeptics matters as AI investment and policy debates increasingly rely on their arguments.
Tech blogger Dan Luu reviewed the track record of prominent AI skeptic Ed Zitron, finding that key predictions — including that Meta, Google, and Microsoft were 'dying' — are contradicted by strong revenue and profit growth across all three companies through 2026.
Dan Luu, a tech writer who discloses no financial stake in AI companies, conducted a systematic review of predictions made by Ed Zitron, widely cited as a leading AI skeptic. The analysis focuses on one notable example: a November 2024 talk in which Zitron called Meta 'a dying product and a dying company' and argued that major tech firms no longer knew how to grow, pointing to Google and Microsoft as examples.
The financial data tells a different story. Meta's revenue grew from $135B in 2023 to $165B in 2024, and $201B in 2025, with operating profit rising from $47B to $83B over the same period. Alphabet's revenue increased from $307B to $403B between 2023 and 2025, with profit jumping from $84B to $129B. Microsoft grew from $228B to $305B in revenue, with profit climbing from $101B to $143B.
Luu states his own position as deliberately neutral: he has called out AI optimists for overreach in the past while also noting that people underestimate AI's ability to displace workers. His conclusion on this particular Zitron claim is that the underlying reasoning is factually wrong — the ecosystems Zitron named as dying are demonstrably growing, both in revenue and profitability. The full article promises a broader review of Zitron's prediction record.