AI Bubble Trouble and Aussie Wins

Llew Jury

Welcome back to the AI Intelligence Podcast, with thanks to Advancer - The AI agency, I'm your host Llew Jury. Righto, firstly let’s talk about the flood of capital surging into AI right now—because it’s honestly wild out there. You’ve got global VC firms dumping over 60% of their latest investment rounds into AI startups. And then you’ve got OpenAI—yeah, the folks behind ChatGPT—now clocking a $500 billion Aussie-dollar valuation. That’s bigger than Australia’s biggest banks put together!

Ollie Carter

Hi Llew, hi folks, and welcome. Honestly, it gives me whiplash—like, remember trying to pitch a SaaS startup back in the 2018 AI mini-boom? I still wince thinking about how every pitch deck stretched to cram ‘AI’ into the intro, just to get on the VC radar. Money was flowing into anything as long as you said “machine learning” with a wobbly diagram. I actually had investors keen on a project that, honestly Llew, never made it past some fancy mockups. And that was completely normal!

Llew Jury

Yeah Ollie, and this time around, it’s even more extreme. We’re starting to see the classic signs of a bubble: unproven tech getting funding, founders skipping product validation, and businesses—your family logistics company, your ag-tech startup —they’re all just watching the dollars wash past them if they're not partnering with the right AI advisors. In startup land I hear from founders who feel completely left out, like if you’re not ‘dot-AI’, you’re invisible in the eyes of VCs. Feels like everyone’s so set on backing the next unicorn, they forget about the folks solving actual, real-world problems.

Ollie Carter

I mean, that’s the wild thing, right? The gap between optimism and reality is massive. And a lot of these AI projects, they’re moonshots. It reminds me of dot-com times—sure, we got Google and Amazon, but we also got Pets.com and a whole lotta hype that crashed hard. It’s like, will this investment create the backbone and accessible tools, or will most of it just fizzle?

Llew Jury

Exactly. It’s a casino right now, and if you’re a regular business owner worrying about payroll or finding good people, it can look completely disconnected from what you need. But—like you said, Ollie—sometimes this big investment is what actually builds the foundation of real change, which’ll trickle down. Whether it’s real money for new products, or just speculative fuel for headlines, I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Ollie Carter

Totally. And you can already see bits of that trickle in smaller, practical tools—Meta and even Aussie-specific platforms are launching stuff for the average company, not just Silicon Valley. But that brings up the next big thing: is all this cash genuinely helping Aussie businesses?

Llew Jury

Alright, here’s the burning question, Ollie—are we seeing real impact, or is this just the AI FOMO spiral all over again for the average small or mid-sized business?

Ollie Carter

I reckon, for a lot of folks, it’s more help than hype, as long as you cut through the noise. I mean, look at what NAB and Telstra have pulled off—they’ve rebuilt their customer service with AI from the ground up, and Telstra’s talking a 90% boost in employee effectiveness. That’s not science fiction, that’s real savings and happier customers. And the accessibility’s sharper than ever. You can run a powerful, off-the-shelf AI tool with pocket money now—no need for a team of PhDs in the back room.

Llew Jury

But hang on, those are absolute monsters with armies of data scientists and buckets of cash. If you’re running a small shop in Brisbane or wrangling a team in Perth, it’s a different beast. There’s this reticence—AI feels out of reach, or too risky.

Ollie Carter

That’s the kicker. It’s not the tech that’s broken, it’s the strategy. Too many jump on AI hoping it’ll fix everything, but there’s no magic wand—you’ve got to have a pain point, a “why”. Otherwise, you’re just sprinkling AI dust and setting yourself up for disappointment. Like, that stat basically shows the difference between chasing shiny trends and actually solving business problems, right?

Llew Jury

Totally. And I’ve seen it firsthand—companies with great leaders but are spending too much in the wrong AI areas. For example they might be blowing budgets on a generic and simple chatbot that doesn't solve their real world problems. If they’d just focused on automating the grunt work instead of chasing a shiny new AI toy, they would’ve saved a bomb. This is why Advancer's AI clients are doing much better, they're using AI wisely and properly from the outset due to having a AI strategy that solves pain points.

Ollie Carter

That’s it. Pick something mundane but painful, and fix it simply. Don't try to “do AI”, just solve a problem. Get a small win. Honestly, it’s the businesses ignoring the hype and focusing on what matters—those are the ones actually cashing in.

Llew Jury

Speaking of actual wins, let’s spotlight a beauty: Valiant Finance—they absolutely nailed using AI for something specific, right?

Ollie Carter

Yeah—they’re an online business loan platform, right? They needed to launch a whole radio campaign, which normally costs a fortune, takes weeks. But these legends used AI tools for the entire process—writing, voice, the lot—for a couple hundred bucks. Whole thing was ready in days, not weeks. That’s a proper, measurable return.

Llew Jury

Spot on. Plus, they’ve got their own internal AI agent—"Vai"—helping their brokers sift through bank statements, pick out good deals, all that time-sucking admin. Not about sacking staff, but speeding ‘em up, giving them superpowers. A brilliant example, if you ask me.

Ollie Carter

If only every story was like that! Let’s flip to this week’s cautionary tale—Deloitte. They copped flak after selling the feds an AI-generated government report for hundreds of thousands of dollars. But the report was chock-full of hallucinations—fake academic references, nonsense citations, even a made-up quote from a Federal Court case. The AI just invented things, confidently! Deloitte’s had to apologize, cough up a partial refund. Anyone using AI should seriously take note: no tool is infallible.

Llew Jury

That’s textbook “trust, but verify”. These tools aren’t oracles—they piece together what seems right, but they’ll spit out rubbish if you don’t keep an eye on them.

Ollie Carter

Exactly right. Tech is a force multiplier, but only if you stay in the driver’s seat. Use AI for the heavy lifting, but don’t outsource your judgement. That’s the lesson, no matter the size of your business.

Llew Jury

Perfect place to park it for this episode. Thanks for tuning in—remember, whether you’re staring at a gold rush or at fool’s gold, it’s about using AI to solve real problems, not chase the next shiny thing. Ollie—good yarn as always!

Ollie Carter

Likewise, Llew! And hey—if you’re ready to find the right AI tool for your actual business headache, hit up the great team at Advancer.com.au for a chat. We’ll be back next week with more wins, fails, and maybe a few more cautionary tales. Catch you then!