Cerebras’ AI chip IPO amid speculative frenzy exposes extractive tech valuations and regulatory gaps in AI governance
Original framing: “Cerebras set for debut in stock market gripped by AI mania - Reuters” — Reuters (via Google News)
The trickster figure of *Coyote* (Lakota) would expose Cerebras’ IPO as a Ponzi scheme where ‘AI’ is the new ‘magic bullet’—a trick to extract wealth from investors while the earth burns. Bakhtin’s *carnivalesque* reveals how the IPO circus inverts reality: a company burning $100M/year is hailed as a ‘unicorn,’ while its chips overheat data centers like a circus performer juggling fire. Hermes, the Greek trickster, would note how stock markets reward *speed* over *substance*, turning AI into a speculative race where the tortoise (ethical AI) is always last.
Cerebras’ IPO is not an isolated event but a symptom of a deeper systemic loop where speculative capital, extractive technology, and regulatory capture reinforce each other, echoing historical bubbles from tulip mania to subprime mortgages.
The framing of AI as an unstoppable force obscures how its material demands—energy, rare earth metals, and exploitative labor—disproportionately harm marginalized communities, while its ‘innovation’ narrative serves the interests of Silicon Valley elites and their financial backers. Indigenous epistemologies and Global South critiques offer a counter-narrative, emphasizing reciprocity and communal stewardship over growth, while historical parallels warn of inevitable collapse if these dynamics persist. The path forward requires dismantling AI monopolies, mandating transparency, and centering marginalized voices in governance—transforming AI from a tool of extraction into one of collective flourishing. The trickster’s laughter, in this context, is a necessary disruption: exposing the absurdity of valuing a loss-making chipmaker at $10B while the planet burns.