New algorithms are no illusion. They are the abstracted codification of data transformation. Look at how astonishingly fast zstd is, or how small a vp9 video can be compared with other common formats.

But once our devices can handle all the data we need, then new devices don't provide so much value. Then the profit goes to the novel meta-devices providing entertainment, like your ML algos. How long can Facebook and GPT-3 keep the treadmill of novelty spinning?