A.I. Backlash Turns Violent + Kara Swisher on Healthmaxxing + The Zuck Bot Is Coming

Key Takeaways

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  AI backlash has escalated into physical violence

  “A 20 year old man allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at the gate of Sam's home. No one was hurt, but according to the criminal complaint against the suspect, this was someone who had a document that identified views opposed to artificial intelligence, also had a list of names and addresses of other AI executives, investors, and board members. This is someone who was very clearly concerned about the existential risk that AI posed in his opinion, and so decided to take matters into his own hands and go try to attack Sam Altman.”

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  Communities are blocking new data center construction

  “The state of Maine recently passed a temporary moratorium that would ban data centers larger than 20 megawatts until November 2027. There's a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Port Washington, which is gonna be the home of one of these big OpenAI Oracle Stargate data centers. That town recently voted overwhelmingly in favor of restricting the building of future data centers. Basically, you have to get voter approval before you do any of these things. Then there's also similar efforts going on in places like Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Georgia, North Carolina.”

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  Public trust in AI and regulation is plummeting

  “There's a new report out from Stanford this week, the 2026 version of their AI index, which sort of catalogs various trends in the AI industry. And, basically, their takeaway was that, in The US, people have very low trust in not only AI, but on the question of whether their own government can regulate AI in a responsible way. The global average on that question was 54 percent of, like, do you trust your own government to responsibly regulate AI? In The US, that is only 31 percent.”

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  Altman blames media rhetoric for physical threats

  “Words have power too. There was an incendiary article about me a few days ago. Someone said to me yesterday, they thought it was coming at a time of great anxiety about AI and that it made things more dangerous for me. I brushed it aside. Now I'm awake in the middle of the night and pissed. So what do you make of the idea, Kevin, that a reason for the negative sentiment against the AI companies and the industry at large is being driven by investigative journalism?”

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  Economic stability masks deeper fears of AI disruption

  “I mean, one thing that I've been thinking about over the past few days is, like, this is happening at a time when unemployment is below 5 percent, and the S and P 500 is near a record high. And so if all of this is starting to happen when things are relatively good, economically speaking, in this country, I think the fear and the expectation among the leaders of these companies is that it will get much worse if and when AI does actually start to cause, like, mass disruptions to the labor market.”

Episode Description

This week, amid violent attacks on the homes of the OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and the Indianapolis councilman Ron Gibson, we debate why artificial intelligence and data centers are so unpopular. Then, Kara Swisher returns to the show to discuss her new docuseries on Silicon Valley’s obsession with living longer. And finally, can chief executives replace themselves with A.I.? Mark Zuckerberg seems to be trying. Guests: Kara Swisher, tech journalist and host of the podcasts “Pivot” and “On With Kara Swisher.” Additional Reading: Shots Fired at Indianapolis Councilman’s Home, After Vote Backing Data Center Man Held in Attack on OpenAI Chief’s Home Had List of A.I. Leaders, Officials Say Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever Meta Builds A.I. Version of Mark Zuckerberg to Interact With Staff   We want to hear from you. Email us at hardfork@nytimes.com. Find “Hard Fork” on YouTube and TikTok. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.