If the AI bubble bursts, what actually happens to ChatGPT? Here are 5 things we’d expect. Is it just me or are warnings that the AI bubble could burst soon getting even harder to ignore? Over the past few years, investors have poured vast sums of money into AI companies, betting that the technology will eventually deliver huge returns. However, concerns are growing about whether those returns will come quickly enough—or at all—to justify such high spending. For example, The Financial Times recently reported that OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, expects nearly $280 billion in negative free cash flow through 2030. This is central to what people mean when they talk about an "AI bubble"—a situation where investment and company valuations have grown far ahead of what the technology can actually earn. If investor confidence drops, funding could dry up, leading to fewer investments and potentially the failure of some AI companies. However, a burst bubble doesn’t mean AI disappears entirely. Instead, the way AI is funded and how users experience it could change dramatically. For the millions of people who use ChatGPT daily, this could mean significant shifts in how the platform operates. One clear prediction is already taking shape. OpenAI has reported that ChatGPT Ads reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate in less than 200 days and now views advertising as a key part of its business model. This suggests that with less funding, OpenAI may focus more on generating revenue from its massive user base. ChatGPT could also push harder to sell users more than just ads, such as referrals, sponsored experiences, and integrated shopping options. Users are already relying on chatbots for product research, holiday planning, and making purchasing decisions, which opens the door for more monetization strategies. Higher subscription prices for current paying users could be one obvious outcome. However, OpenAI might also try to convert more free users into paying ones by limiting access to the best features behind a subscription. This could mean reserving the most capable models, advanced tools, and new features for paying users, with some reserved for the most expensive tiers. Instead of suddenly becoming more expensive for everyone, users may find that the version of ChatGPT they truly want is the one they have to pay for. Even the free features could become more restricted. OpenAI might reduce the availability of certain features for free users, such as limiting the number of messages with more powerful models, reducing image and video generation allowances, or increasing wait times for compute-heavy tasks. These changes could be a response to tighter funding and the need to cut costs associated with serving a large free user base. The free version of ChatGPT would still be useful, but users might hit its limits more frequently. During the AI boom, development has felt fast-paced and innovative, with teams seemingly free to explore new possibilities. However, if the bubble bursts, product teams may face pressure to focus on features that generate revenue rather than on experimental or speculative projects. Features that drive subscriptions, enterprise contracts, and advertising would likely take precedence over more creative or exploratory developments. It's worth remembering that the dotcom crash didn’t end the internet, but it did eliminate many companies and challenged assumptions about how internet businesses are funded. While the current AI landscape is different—today’s biggest spenders include some of the world’s richest and most profitable companies—an AI crash could still lead to the failure or acquisition of smaller AI companies, apps, and startups. For ordinary users, this might mean fewer AI tools to choose from rather than the complete disappearance of AI. Additionally, billions have already been spent on chips, data centers, and trained models, which are now embedded in countless products and services. ChatGPT itself operates at a massive scale, with over one billion weekly active users and multiple revenue streams, including subscriptions, advertising, enterprise contracts, and its API. This means that even if the AI boom has outpaced its earnings, ChatGPT is unlikely to vanish entirely. However, the broader AI landscape could look quite different. Financial markets can move rapidly, and headlines about them can sound dramatic. But for a regular ChatGPT user, an AI crash might feel surprisingly gradual and even mundane. There may not be one big, dramatic moment when everything changes. Instead, users might start noticing small shifts—hitting free limits more often, new features requiring subscriptions, seeing more ads, or using a smaller AI app that shuts down or gets acquired by a larger company. The weirdest thing about an AI bubble bursting might be that, despite all the talk of crashes and wasted money, the user experience could remain largely unchanged, with ChatGPT still being a significant part of daily life—just more expensive, more commercial, and less generous with free features.