FastForward #58: Everyone hates AI
ForwardThinking 🤔
Everyone hates AI
Well, it's been building up inside of me
For, oh, I don't know how long
I don't know why, but I keep thinking
Something's bound to go wrong
~Beach Boys, Don't Worry Baby
A backlash against AI has been building for some time as the industry faces increasingly negative scrutiny. Many people are starting to question whether this technology is all it’s cracked up to be — or whether it could even be dangerous. This isn’t the message AI leaders want to project, yet the data suggests it’s precisely how people are feeling.
As venture capitalist Ashley Mayer wrote in her Safe Space blog recently, Silicon Valley isn’t doing a great job of making the case for AI. “The headlines that reach mainstream audiences range from depressing to doomsday: rising electricity prices, chatbot-assisted psychosis or suicide, showdowns with the Pentagon, and the coming obsolescence of white collar jobs.”
Against that backdrop, it’s hardly surprising that polls show a gloomy public mood. A recent NBC News survey found that 57% of respondents believe the risks of AI outweigh the benefits, compared with 34% who say the opposite. Even worse, the poll found that just 26% held a positive view of AI. That’s not a great place for vendors to be.
Look in the mirror
But they really only have themselves to blame. Some of it is the hype-reality gap. Some of it is scaremongering, trying to make AI sound more powerful than it is. And some of it is outright misleading claims, with companies blaming AI for massive layoffs when it’s really just an excuse, a practice that some have started calling 'AI washing.' The idea of AI taking jobs isn’t going over too well. But that’s not the only issue.
Then there’s the data center building boom. These facilities consume land, water, electricity and raw materials. They can provide a short-term boost to local construction jobs, but once they’re built, they don’t employ many people, while continuing to suck up resources. Communities are starting to question whether the trade-offs are worth it.
At the same time, companies are spending billions on these facilities. Meanwhile, the price of food, rent, health insurance and gas keeps rising, and these projects often come with tax breaks for wealthy tech companies. It’s not unreasonable to think some of that money could help address growing income inequality.
Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez jumped into the fray this week when they introduced data center moratorium legislation tied to AI safety. Specifically, their bill calls for protections for consumers, workers and the environment before construction could continue, showing just how much AI is becoming entwined in the political conversation.
A recent Time magazine cover story pointed to this problem with the title 'The People Versus AI'. I realize the irony on many levels of a print publication owned by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff calling out AI, but it's another example of mainstream media tapping into the public's AI angst.
The real issue is how the industry can reverse the trend. Mayer, who has a background in PR and communications, sees it as a messaging problem: "As an industry, we’re collectively failing at our primary narrative objective: to give people a reason to root for the future," she wrote.
Yet when AI is being marketed as more powerful than it really is, fear becomes a rational response, especially around mental health, jobs and the environment. It's no surprise that politicians will respond accordingly. It’s up to industry leaders to change the conversation, but so long as the money keeps flowing, there’s little incentive to do so.
~Ron
What's new on the blog đź“°
Databricks takes on security and a whole new buyer
Databricks leapt into the cybersecurity market this week. While it technically makes sense to think about security as a data problem, the question is whether the company can shift buyer personas successfully.
Former Gartner analyst Sanjeev Mohan says it will require a different sales motion: "Selling to infosec, DevOps and SRE teams is very different from selling to analytics or business users. That's something they would need to develop."
How one person is securing all of Amazon from front door to firewall
Amazon is a huge company and when you consider subsidiaries like Whole Foods and MGM Studios, it's even bigger. That's why it's so hard to believe that one person is in charge of integrated security across the company for everything from badges to cyber.
His view on how most companies handle it? "I'm really not interested in taking a colander, blocking a few of the holes and calling it a bucket. That's called security theater."
As Narayen steps down, Adobe must confront its next big transition
Earlier this month, Shantanu Narayen announced he was stepping down as Adobe CEO after 18 years on the job. He oversaw some major transformations in his time in the corner office, including the move from boxed software to cloud subscriptions, but with his departure, the company may be facing its biggest transition yet.
"He did the impossible by saving and transforming an on-premise company into a real SaaS business. The book is yet to be written on the second transformation — to AI,"
~Anshu Sharma, co-founder and CEO at security startup Skyflow
Amazon is betting big that OpenAI stays relevant
In the latest collaboration from me and Alex Wilhelm, we take a deep dive into the recent Amazon investment in OpenAI that could be worth as much as $50 billion.
The question is: Is Amazon getting in too late for too much money, or are they getting a piece of what will turn out to be lucrative action in spite of the timing.
AI-generated code is flooding the software supply chain with new threats
While it’s undeniable that AI coding tools make it easier to generate code faster and more efficiently, that new velocity is also introducing risks to the software supply chain that can’t be swept under the rug.
I spoke with Cassie Crossley, author of Software Supply Chain Security, about how AI is changing the threat landscape, and why caution should be the watchword.
"You can't know every single library, and frankly, there are not enough security layers built in yet for vibe coding that I would ever trust at the moment."
~Cassie Crossley
News of the Week đź“Ł
Anthropic powers ahead with court win and possible IPO chatter
Just weeks ago, Anthropic was spiraling after the DoD labeled it “a supply chain threat” for having the audacity to demand guardrails around the use of its AI. The company found the designation unfair and sued to overturn it. This week, it earned a court victory when Judge Rita Lin issued a preliminary injunction blocking the designation.
The judge pulled no punches when she wrote, “Nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the U.S. for expressing disagreement with the government.”
Meanwhile, reports suggest that the company could pursue an IPO this fall in an offering that could raise $60 billion. Of course, bankers may be leaking this to prop up investor sentiment in light of the DoD episode, but overall the week feels like a win for the AI lab after taking a hit earlier this month.
U.S. Army is getting into the data center building business
As we’ve seen in the battle between DoD and Anthropic, the U.S. government is growing increasingly focused on AI, and by extension, the infrastructure that powers it. AI and data centers are inextricably linked and are becoming strategic assets. That point was driven home when AWS data centers were damaged in drone attacks earlier this month.
Perhaps it's not surprising then that the U.S. Army is looking at building its own hyper scale data centers on federal land. This week Stars and Stripes reports that the army is already talking to contractors about building these data centers.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told Stars and Stripes that the Army sees AI as a strategic asset, and having access to its own data centers, rather than relying on commercial offerings, is a way to build resilience and stay ahead of adversaries.
OpenAI kills Sora and some other side projects
OpenAI announced this week that it was killing its AI video-creation tool, Sora. It enabled users to describe a video with text and Sora would build it. The move felt typical of the AI news hype cycle in general, but especially when OpenAI is involved.
It launched the tool with great fanfare, sparked panic across an entire industry, persuaded Disney to sign a $1 billion investment and licensing deal around it — and then walked away like there was never anything to see here anyway. And perhaps it truly wasn’t anything more than another AI slop generator.
It’s worth noting that TechCrunch reports the company is also cutting back on its erotic chatbot and other side projects as it looks to focus more on core commercially viable products. That may be a wise move on the company's part, which is finding itself spread too thin.
What I'm reading đź“š
More! More! More! Tech Workers Max Out Their A.I. Use
~By Kevin Roose, New York Times
Google bumps up Q Day deadline to 2029, far sooner than previously thought
~By Dan Goodin, Ars Technica
Trapped in a Self-Driving Car During an Anti-Robot Attack
~By Erin Griffith, New York Times
With New AI Glasses, Dementia Patients Can Perform Everyday Tasks More Independently
~By Sam McEvans, SWNS via Nice News
Look who's talking đź‘„
“Many of this technology wave’s most impressive companies have also made what I believe is a profound narrative error. They’ve cast themselves as the heroes in their own stories, and in doing so, risk becoming the villain in everyone else’s.”
~Ashley Mayer, We need better stories about the future, Safe Space blog.
