Remember the late '90s search engine wars? AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, Ask Jeeves—dozens of players fighting for dominance. Then one company swept them all aside.

A prominent tech investor is sounding the alarm: AI might be heading down the exact same path.

Speaking on a recent podcast about AI pioneers, he drew uncomfortable parallels between today's artificial intelligence frenzy and that earlier era. Sure, we're seeing massive investment flowing into AI startups right now. Labs and tech giants are burning through capital at staggering rates. Everyone's convinced they'll be the next big thing.

But here's the uncomfortable truth he's pointing out—history suggests most of these players won't survive. The search engine analogy hits hard because we've seen this movie before. An explosion of competition, then brutal consolidation. One or two winners taking nearly everything.

What makes this warning particularly relevant? The parallels are striking. Massive hype? Check. Sky-high valuations? Check. Everyone claiming their approach is revolutionary? Absolutely.

The question hanging over the industry: which AI companies are building genuine moats, and which are just riding a wave that'll eventually crash? Because if the 1990s taught us anything, being early and well-funded doesn't guarantee survival when the market decides there can only be one or two real winners.