New Delhi, Jan. 29 -- In today's world, the only predictable constant, as the cliche goes, is unpredictability.

On 21 January, US President Donald Trump appeared with OpenAI's Sam Altman, Oracle's Larry Ellison and Softbank's Masayoshi Son to announce a $500 billion artificial intelligence (AI) project. "This monumental undertaking is a resounding declaration of confidence in America's potential under a new president," Trump declared. Not to be outdone, Son said this amounted to the dawn of a "golden age."

Less than a week later, the loss of a trillion dollars in market capitalization suffered by tech companies on 27 January alone on US stock markets appears to be some kind of bizarre celestial retribution.

Investors grew nervous about...