“When will the internet bubble burst?” the cover story of Barron’s asked on March 20 2000. “That unpleasant popping sound is likely to be heard before the end of this year.”

In fact, that same day, one of the most high-profile tech businesses of the moment suffered a share price plunge of 60pc. A flood of other collapses followed, evaporating trillions of dollars.

Now, some on Wall Street fear that “unpleasant popping sound” may be imminent for the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

On Tuesday, tech stocks suffered a shock sell-off after a report from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers warned that the vast majority of AI investments were yielding “zero return” for businesses.

“Despite $30-40bn (£22-30bn) in enterprise investment into Gen[erative]AI, this report uncovers a surprising result in that 95pc of organisations are getting zero return,” MIT academics wrote.

Shares in Nvidia – the $4tn company that has powered the AI boom – dropped by 3.5pc, while data giant Palantir fell by 9pc.

MIT’s findings threaten to be the pin that pops the tech stock market bubble, which has added trillions of dollars to the value of US stocks.

Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, Silicon Valley has been evangelical that AI chatbots will transform the economy. Executives have spent billions on tools for their staff as a result and predicted massive cost-savings.

But the promised AI revolution has stalled, MIT’s report suggested.

After surveying 150 business leaders and 350 employees, MIT found that “just 5pc of integrated AI pilots are extracting millions in value, while the vast majority remain stuck with no measurable P&L [profit and loss] impact”.