The Exchanges

Q Should we go deeper on sort of the infrastructure and energy point in terms of what it's really going to take to, to get enough capacity or what's most important in that second bullet you were talking about?

A Yeah, I mean, well, so, I mean, there, there are definitely people who are much more knowledgeable about energy than I am and are experts in the space, but here's what I've been able to kind of divine is, um, so first of all, the administration, President Trump has signed multiple executive orders to, uh, to allow for nuclear, to make permitting easier. We've even freed up Federal land, uh, for, for data centers to hopefully to try and help get around some of these state and local restrictions. And obviously the president has made it a lot easier to, um, to stand up new, um, uh, energy projects, uh, power generation, all that kind of stuff. Um, I still think though that we have, um, a growing NIMBY problem at the state and local level, uh, in, in the US that, that is becoming a little bit worrisome. Uh, and, um, And, ah, and if we don't figure out a way to, to address it, then it could really slow down, ah, the build out of this infrastructure. Um, in terms of, of power, so my understanding is that nuclear is going to take five or 10 years. It's just, it's just not something that we're going to be able to do in the next two or three years, so. In the short term, it really means that, like, gas is the way that these data centers are going to get, um, powered. And the, the issue with gas is the shortage there is not, I mean, America has plenty of natural gas and, um, There's, uh,…

AI assessment note: “In the short term, it really means that, like, gas is the way”

Q David, you recently tweeted that climate doomerism perhaps is giving way to AI doomerism based on, you know, Bill Gates recent comments. Um, what do you mean by this? Do you mean it's going to be a major flank, you know, of, of, of the, you know, uh, US left or what, what, what, what, what do you,

A Well, I, I think the left needs a central organizing catastrophe to justify their, uh, takeover of the economy and to, to regulate everything, and especially to control the information space. Uh, and I think that you're seeing that kind of the allure of the whole climate change doomer narrative has kind of faded. Maybe it's the fact that they predicted 10 years ago that the whole world would be underwater in 10 years, and that hasn't happened, so it's like at a certain point, you get discredited by your own catastrophic predictions. I suspect that's where we'll be with AI dumerism in a few years, but in the meantime, it's a really good narrative to kind of take the place of the climate dumerism. There's actually a lot of similarities, I would say, um, You know, you've kind of got, um, there's a lot of kind of, um, pre-existing Hollywood, um, storytelling and pop culture that supports this idea. You know, you've got the Terminator movies and The Matrix and all this kind of stuff. Uh, so people have been taught to be afraid of this. Um, and then, you know, you, um, there's enough kind of pseudoscience behind it. You know, kind of like, um, you know, with, uh, Like you've got all these contrived studies that, like the one where they claim that the AI researcher got blackmailed by his own AI model or whatever. Look, it's very easy to steer the model towards, um, the, the answer tha…

AI assessment note: “it's a really good narrative to kind of take the place of the climate dumerism.”

Q just progress in general. And what do you think are the implications? Some people have been sort of, you know, saying that, you know, AGI is two years away, sort of the AI, 20, 27 papers, the old Ash and Brenner's situational awareness papers. I'm curious, kind of what's your reading of the, Of the state of play in terms of a development and what are the implications from that?

A So, so my sense is that, um, people are in Silicon Valley are kind of pulling back from the, let's call it imminent AGI narrative. Um, I saw Andre Carpathia gave an interview where now all of a sudden he's, he's, um, re underwritten this and he says AGI is at least a decade away. He's basically saying that, um, that, you know, reinforcement learning has its limits. I mean, it's, it's very useful. It's the main paradigm right now that they're making a lot of progress with. But he says that actually the way that humans learn is not really through reinforcement. We do something a little different, which I think is a good thing because it means that human and AI will be synergistic, right? I mean, that the AI is, um, understanding if it's based on RL will be a little different than the way that we intuit and reason. Uh, but in any event, I, I sense more of a pullback from this imminent AGI narrative. Um, you know, the idea that AGI is two years away. Of course, it's like kind of unclear what people mean by AGI, but it's kind of, You know, it was used in this, like, scary way that, um, it's kind of this super intelligence that would grow beyond our control. Um, I feel like people are pulling back from that and understanding that, yes, we're still making a lot of progress, and the progress is amazing, but at the same time, you know, what we mean by intelligence is multifaceted, and i…

AI assessment note: “people are in Silicon Valley are kind of pulling back from the, let's call it imminent AGI narrative.”

Q Should we go deeper on sort of the infrastructure and energy point in terms of what it's really going to take to, to get enough capacity or what's most important in that second bullet you were talking about?

A Yeah, I mean, well, so, I mean, there, there are definitely people who are much more knowledgeable about energy than I am and are experts in the space, but here's what I've been able to kind of divine is, um, so first of all, the administration, President Trump has signed multiple executive orders to, uh, to allow for nuclear, to make permitting easier. We've even freed up Federal land, uh, for, for data centers to hopefully to try and help get around some of these state and local restrictions. And obviously the president has made it a lot easier to, um, to stand up new, um, uh, energy projects, uh, power generation, all that kind of stuff. Um, I still think though that we have, um, a growing NIMBY problem at the state and local level, uh, in, in the US that, that is becoming a little bit worrisome. Uh, and, um, And, ah, and if we don't figure out a way to, to address it, then it could really slow down, ah, the build out of this infrastructure. Um, in terms of, of power, so my understanding is that nuclear is going to take five or 10 years. It's just, it's just not something that we're going to be able to do in the next two or three years, so. In the short term, it really means that, like, gas is the way that these data centers are going to get, um, powered. And the, the issue with gas is the shortage there is not, I mean, America has plenty of natural gas and, um, There's, uh,…

AI assessment note: “In the short term, it really means that, like, gas is the way”

Q David, you recently tweeted that climate doomerism perhaps is giving way to AI doomerism based on, you know, Bill Gates recent comments. Um, what do you mean by this? Do you mean it's going to be a major flank, you know, of, of, of the, you know, uh, US left or what, what, what, what, what do you,

A Well, I, I think the left needs a central organizing catastrophe to justify their, uh, takeover of the economy and to, to regulate everything, and especially to control the information space. Uh, and I think that you're seeing that kind of the allure of the whole climate change doomer narrative has kind of faded. Maybe it's the fact that they predicted 10 years ago that the whole world would be underwater in 10 years, and that hasn't happened, so it's like at a certain point, you get discredited by your own catastrophic predictions. I suspect that's where we'll be with AI dumerism in a few years, but in the meantime, it's a really good narrative to kind of take the place of the climate dumerism. There's actually a lot of similarities, I would say, um, You know, you've kind of got, um, there's a lot of kind of, um, pre-existing Hollywood, um, storytelling and pop culture that supports this idea. You know, you've got the Terminator movies and The Matrix and all this kind of stuff. Uh, so people have been taught to be afraid of this. Um, and then, you know, you, um, there's enough kind of pseudoscience behind it. You know, kind of like, um, you know, with, uh, Like you've got all these contrived studies that, like the one where they claim that the AI researcher got blackmailed by his own AI model or whatever. Look, it's very easy to steer the model towards, um, the, the answer tha…

AI assessment note: “I think the left needs a central organizing catastrophe to justify their, uh, takeover”

Q just progress in general. And what do you think are the implications? Some people have been sort of, you know, saying that, you know, AGI is two years away, sort of the AI, 20, 27 papers, the old Ash and Brenner's situational awareness papers. I'm curious, kind of what's your reading of the, Of the state of play in terms of a development and what are the implications from that?

A So, so my sense is that, um, people are in Silicon Valley are kind of pulling back from the, let's call it imminent AGI narrative. Um, I saw Andre Carpathia gave an interview where now all of a sudden he's, he's, um, re underwritten this and he says AGI is at least a decade away. He's basically saying that, um, that, you know, reinforcement learning has its limits. I mean, it's, it's very useful. It's the main paradigm right now that they're making a lot of progress with. But he says that actually the way that humans learn is not really through reinforcement. We do something a little different, which I think is a good thing because it means that human and AI will be synergistic, right? I mean, that the AI is, um, understanding if it's based on RL will be a little different than the way that we intuit and reason. Uh, but in any event, I, I sense more of a pullback from this imminent AGI narrative. Um, you know, the idea that AGI is two years away. Of course, it's like kind of unclear what people mean by AGI, but it's kind of, You know, it was used in this, like, scary way that, um, it's kind of this super intelligence that would grow beyond our control. Um, I feel like people are pulling back from that and understanding that, yes, we're still making a lot of progress, and the progress is amazing, but at the same time, you know, what we mean by intelligence is multifaceted, and i…

AI assessment note: “my sense is that, um, people are in Silicon Valley are kind of pulling back”

Q left, um, to, to, to emerge at the same time we see Mamdani in New York. I'm, I'm curious what you, what you think of, what, what, what are you seeing in terms of what is the future in terms of, for the, for the Democratic Party in terms of it? Is there a more moderate presence, or is it kind of this Mamdani style pop, you know, woke populism?

A I mean, it certainly seems to me that Mamdani and, and, um, I don't know, like the woke socialism seems to be the future of the party. I mean, that's where all the energy is in their base. I mean, I don't want that to be the case. I'd rather have a rational Democrat party, but, um, but that seems to be where their base is, where the energy is, and, um, you don't really hear, um, Democrats, um, within the party trying to self-police and distance themselves from that. Uh, you saw, I mean, all the major figures in the Democrat Party have endorsed Mamdani. So, yeah, I mean, that's where that party seems to be headed. Um, I, I think that, um, partly it's where their base is at. I think partly it might be, um, A misread of, of, uh, it's sort of, it could be kind of like a partial reaction to, to Trump where they feel like, um, you know, establishment politics kind of failed, and so they need a populism of the left to compete with a populism of the right, and so I think that's maybe part of the calculation for why they're going this direction, but I don't, you know, I firmly, I don't think it works. I don't think socialism works. I don't think the, um, you know, defund the police, empty all the jails policies work. Um, so, you know, I think we're about to get another, um, you know, uh, case, uh, a teaching moment in New York. Unfortunately, it's not gonna be good for the city. Uh, but…

AI assessment note: “woke socialism seems to be the future of the party.”

Q So David, you're the AI and crypto czar. Why don't you first talk about why it makes sense to have those as a portfolio? What do they have to do with each other? And then I'll have you lay out what's the, what's the, what's the Trump plan on those, those two categories and how we're doing.

A Well, there are two technologies that I guess are relatively new, and so there's a lot of fear of them, and, ah, I think people don't necessarily know that much about them. They don't really know what to make of them. I think that from a policy standpoint, and we can talk about the similarities and differences, the, the approaches are a little different. I think with crypto, the main thing that's needed is regulatory certainty. You know, all the entrepreneurs I've talked to over the years, they, they all say the same thing, which is just tell us what the rules are. We're happy to comply, but people, you know, Washington won't tell us what they are. And in fact, during the Biden years, you had, um, an SEC chairman who, uh, took an approach, which I guess has been called, um, regulation through, uh, enforcement. Which basically means you just get prosecuted. They don't tell you what the rules are. You just basically get indicted. And then everyone else is supposed to divine what the rules are, um, as you get prosecuted and fined and imprisoned. So that was the approach for several years. And, um, you know, and, and, and there, and as a result of that, basically the whole crypto industry was in the process of moving offshore. And, uh, and America, I think, was being deprived of this industry of the future. And so, President Trump, during his campaign in last year, he gave a now fa…

AI assessment note: “there are two technologies that I guess are relatively new”

Q you know, some people say that, yeah, yes, it's, it's a good idea to do what we're doing. Cause it'll, you know, limit domestic semiconductor production. Other people say, oh, well, you know, some of these companies say chips are their biggest You know, limiting factors, and so are we enabling them in some way? Why don't you talk about our sort of state of play and then our strategy?

A Yeah. So, you know, when we talk about winning the AI race, um, Sometimes we say we're in a race against China. Sometimes we just leave it a little bit more vague, because I, I don't think we should become overly obsessed with our, uh, competitors or adversaries. I think whether we win or not will mostly have to do with the decisions we make about our own technology ecosystem, not about, you know, what we do vis-a-vis them. And so the president in, in his July 23rd speech on AI policy, I think, mentioned a few of the key pillars of Of, you know, of, of how we win this, this AI race. Um, and by the way, I'm not saying it ever ends. This, it might be an infinite game, but, um, but we want to be in the lead at least. And, um, and I, I, I do think that, um, there, there could be a period of time where, like, you know, take the internet where, I mean, the internet's still going on, it's happened, but we understand that kind of who the winners are is kind of baked now. Um, so there could be a period of time in which, you know, it's kind of baked who the, the winners in AI are. But, um, in any event, um, You know, in terms of how we win this race, um, you know, I mentioned a few of the key pillars. Number one is innovation. You know, it's very important to support the private sector because they're the ones who do the innovation. We're not going to regulate our way to beating our, our…

AI assessment note: “the president in, in his July 23rd speech on AI policy, I think, mentioned”

Q you know, some people say that, yeah, yes, it's, it's a good idea to do what we're doing. Cause it'll, you know, limit domestic semiconductor production. Other people say, oh, well, you know, some of these companies say chips are their biggest You know, limiting factors, and so are we enabling them in some way? Why don't you talk about our sort of state of play and then our strategy?

A Yeah. So, you know, when we talk about winning the AI race, um, Sometimes we say we're in a race against China. Sometimes we just leave it a little bit more vague, because I, I don't think we should become overly obsessed with our, uh, competitors or adversaries. I think whether we win or not will mostly have to do with the decisions we make about our own technology ecosystem, not about, you know, what we do vis-a-vis them. And so the president in, in his July 23rd speech on AI policy, I think, mentioned a few of the key pillars of Of, you know, of, of how we win this, this AI race. Um, and by the way, I'm not saying it ever ends. This, it might be an infinite game, but, um, but we want to be in the lead at least. And, um, and I, I, I do think that, um, there, there could be a period of time where, like, you know, take the internet where, I mean, the internet's still going on, it's happened, but we understand that kind of who the winners are is kind of baked now. Um, so there could be a period of time in which, you know, it's kind of baked who the, the winners in AI are. But, um, in any event, um, You know, in terms of how we win this race, um, you know, I mentioned a few of the key pillars. Number one is innovation. You know, it's very important to support the private sector because they're the ones who do the innovation. We're not going to regulate our way to beating our, our…

AI assessment note: “in terms of how we win this race, um, you know, I mentioned a few”