Yes, of course, if you need 40 TB then you can get it for a reasonable price unless your need isn't really a need.
Just setup a RAID6 array with a bunch of 20+ TB drives and you have redundancy as well - that is my preferred config on a proper server and it can be done at home.
I did notice the price of these high end enterprise class drives was rising months back.
I doubt it's got much to do with AI.