Concept sketch for the AI Circus, an article I read on Honeydogs about how much $$$ is getting spent on AI companies this summer.
🎪 The AI Circus, Summer 2025 Edition
Step right up, folks! The tents are bigger, the lights are brighter, and the ticket prices? Astronomical.
This summer, the AI industry has turned into a full-blown circus. Billions are flying around like confetti at a victory parade. Startups with more hype than product are pulling in rounds so oversized they make WeWork 2019 look frugal.
🦁 The Lion Tamers: VCs, standing in the center ring, cracking whips and tossing money at anything with “AI” in the name. "Founders, jump through this flaming hoop! Now juggle LLMs! Now make me a reason to believe we’ll get 100x returns!"
🎭 The Clowns: Companies raising at mind-boggling valuations with business models as sturdy as a paper umbrella. "We’ve invented a new category called Agentic Prompt Fusion." Sure, buddy. Pass the popcorn.
🐘 The Elephants: The giants—Google, Microsoft, Amazon—lumbering around, stomping on smaller acts while trying to look graceful. Every step shakes the ground, every “new model release” steals the spotlight.
🎟️ The Audience: Us. Half thrilled, half terrified, watching this surreal show while wondering if our jobs, creativity, and sanity are the next things being shot out of the cannon.
Summer 2025 feels like the peak of the hype cycle. Investors can’t shovel money fast enough, founders can’t make slides fast enough, and journalists can’t write “AI Boom or Bust?” headlines fast enough.
The real question: when the tents come down, who’s still standing in the sawdust ring—and who’s packing up in the clown car?