

Theres an argument to be made that we also dominated by creating manufacturing standards before there were international standards, so by the time the world was establishing international standards we were able to push for our standards to become ISO standards. Like screw threads being 45°, that kind of thing.
But the world standards especially became our standards because we were the cheap production hub as you said, and because we were farther removed from conflict during WWII. Another aspect is that we had established a ton of military bases to move things around the world, which was a huge benefit as well. But overall, we certainly used to occupy that same spot that China occupies today

The thing is that there is a snake eating its tail type of logic for why so many investors are dumping money into it. The more it is interacted with, the more it is trained, and then the better it allegedly will be. So these companies push shoehorning it into everything possible, even if it is borderline useless, on the assumption that it will become significantly more useful as a result. Then be more valuable for further implementation, making it worth more.
So no one wants to blink, and theyve practically dumped every egg in that basket