(Photo illustration by Chantal Jahchan)
Unchecked, they will shape the country’s economic, social, and political future. Their names are Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Demis Hassabis of Google’s DeepMind, and Dario Amodei of Anthropic. They are leading the rapid growth and deployment of AI even as they admit and warn that this technology could have disastrous effects on the global economy.
We don’t understand or appreciate the consequences this technology will have on national security, the environment, or human relations, but we are told that this is inevitable and the rest of us have no choice but to accept it.
Well, the people would like to have a word.
Young graduates around the country are loudly booing commencement speakers who are telling them to embrace AI and the alleged utopia it will unleash for the elite and privileged. Within the past few months, AI data centers have united a fractured and polarized America in a frothing rage against these gaudy avatars of unchecked capitalism that is taking over their land, resources, and data. Unsurprisingly, some are now resorting to violence. Altman’s home in the Bay Area was firebombed. Tesla headquarters have been vandalized. A majority of Americans view Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of a United Healthcare CEO, as a hero.
Meanwhile, these billionaire bros are doing everything they can to make themselves more hateable to the public.
Alex Karp of Palantir released a 22-point fascist manifesto that he assumed would win over the masses - it did not. Bezos’s recent interview made him look like a Trump brown-noser who is woefully out of touch with the masses. A damning New Yorker profile of Sam Altman quoted his own co-workers and former friends who described him as a sociopath and pathological liar. Peter Thiel is an outright white nationalist who is now trying to operate from Argentina and telling people that those opposed to AI are agents of the Antichrist. Finally, Elon Musk can’t spend time with his numerous children because he’s busy tweeting deranged, white supremacist conspiracy theories and remains obsessed with the falling white birth rate.
However, these techno-fascist freaks realize the tide is turning against them.
This is why they’re spending an unprecedented amount of money on the upcoming 2026 and 2028 elections. They are openly and shamelessly doling out money across the political aisles. They’re buying up Democrats and Republicans and outwardly promoting a vision of “deregulatiom and economic growth.”
But it’s not working.
The people are waking up. I invited NYT journalist and author David Wallace-Wells to explain how there’s a rising populist revolt against AI and the techno-broligarchs, and what the people can do to reform these sociopaths who are buying out both Democrats and Republicans.
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Thank you Ellie Leonard, Amy Gabrielle, Caro Henry, LeftieProf, Frank Carey, and many others for tuning into my live video with David Wallace-Wells! Join me for my next live video in the app.
