The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, Sept. 24, edition that Goldman Sachs analyst Jim Covello has become Wall Street's leading artificial intelligence skeptic. A New York Times dispatch to The Globe reports that three months ago, he shook the markets with a research paper that questioned whether businesses would see a satisfactory return on an estimated $1-trillion (U.S.) in AI spending in the coming years. He stated that generative AI makes so many errors that it was questionable whether it would ever consistently solve complex problems. The Goldman paper landed days after a partner at Sequoia Capital raised similar questions in a blog post about AI. Their skepticism marked a turning point for AI-related stocks, leading to a reassessment of Wall Street's hottest trade. Goldman's basket of AI stocks includes Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Oracle, and has declined 7 per cent from its peak on July 10, as investors and business leaders debate whether AI can justify its staggering costs. Mr. Covello challenged the notion that the costs of AI would decline, noting that costs have risen for some sophisticated technologies such as the machines that make semiconductors.