{"id":3068,"date":"2026-09-19T16:41:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T16:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dwts-elimination.myftp.biz\/?p=3068"},"modified":"2026-09-19T16:41:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T16:41:00","slug":"kara-swisher-ai-isnt-going-to-destroy-humanity-but-the-people-building-it-might","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dwts-elimination.myftp.biz\/?p=3068","title":{"rendered":"Kara Swisher: AI Isn\u2019t Going to Destroy Humanity\u2014But the People Building It Might"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\">As the AI industry likes to tell it, superintelligent bots could one day cure cancer and end poverty. Or in the worst-case scenario, they might wipe out all humans from the face of the Earth. In recent weeks, Silicon Valley\u2019s existential concerns about the technology it is racing to build have blown up. The tech journalist Kara Swisher sees it differently. \u201cWe have to stop thinking AI is going to kill humanity,\u201d she told <em>Atlantic <\/em>executive editor Adrienne LaFrance at The Atlantic Festival. If the AI future goes sideways, bots won\u2019t be to blame. People will be. \u201cThese are people at the helm of these things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\">In the several decades that Swisher has covered Silicon Valley\u2014formerly as a reporter at <em>The Wall Street Journal<\/em>, now as the host of two podcasts\u2014she says that she\u2019s seen tech whizzes make the same mistakes again and again: failing to take proper precautions against the products they are building. \u201cOne of the things about tech people is they\u2019re the smartest people in the world, in case you need to know, because they like to tell you,\u201d she said. In her interview with LaFrance, Swisher also discussed the economic implications of the AI race, who is likely to win, and how Americans can respond to this dizzying and worrying AI moment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><em>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr class=\"ArticleLegacyHtml_root__WFd2I ArticleLegacyHtml_standard__kC_zi\"\/>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Adrienne LaFrance: <\/strong>You have been paying attention to the tech world and AI for basically ever. And now it seems like within the past, say, two weeks, the rest of the world is suddenly paying much closer attention. So I wanted to start just by talking about where you think we are, in this moment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Kara Swisher: <\/strong>I think the penny has dropped with a lot of people. Years ago I wrote <em>Burn Book<\/em>, which was tough on the tech industry. And at the time, they were sort of in an ascendant period, not as well liked as they started off. Someone came up to me and said, <em>This book is really mean<\/em>, as if I\u2019m their friend or something. And recently that same person came up to me and they said, <em>It wasn\u2019t mean enough<\/em>, which was kind of interesting. And I thought, <em>Well, don\u2019t worry; I\u2019m coming up with a new one. It\u2019s going to be great<\/em>. The new book opens up with them standing with Donald Trump at the inaugural in front of the Cabinet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>By <em>them<\/em>, you mean this collection of tech leaders?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>It was Elon Musk; Sundar Pichai of Google, or whatever they call themselves now\u2014Alphabet; Mark Zuckerberg; Jeff Bezos. To me, that was the sort of moment that you understood, because these are people who were not particularly political, including in Trump 1 \u2026 but then figured out that you can stick a coin in this president and get what you want, right?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\">So anyway, we\u2019re at a moment where something\u2019s going to happen. Something that I have said for a long, long time is that there are no guardrails on these people, ever. Not once. And there\u2019s never been, in American history, except maybe the railroad expansion or some of the manufacturing expansion, or you go back to kids being here in New York City working in dangerous factories and things like that\u2014there\u2019s never been a moment where the people do not get a say. And these people get to make decisions for the rest of us that are really problematic, especially since seven people, five of whom have mental problems, and so with unlimited money, they do.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>When you put it that way, it\u2019s a little scary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher:<\/strong> It is a little scary. And the fact that we\u2019ve allowed to do that. And they\u2019ve also been able to capture politics, in a way, especially with <em>Citizens United<\/em>. But beyond that, the amount of money they have is astonishing. I always joke the deli on my corner has more legislation against it than most of these big companies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>And I want to get back to regulation, but you mentioned the railroads. What is the right historical analogy? I ask leaders in the tech world to help me understand how powerful this technology is and how consequential it will be relative to other major revolutions. And you get answers ranging from <em>Oh, it\u2019s the biggest thing since the internet<\/em> to <em>It\u2019s the biggest thing since fire<\/em>, right?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>AI has been around forever. Let\u2019s be clear. This is not a new thing. If you look at early internet pictures, it\u2019s laughable, when you look at early Yahoo or things like that. At the time when this was starting several years ago, I said <em>This is a Cambrian explosion<\/em>. This is a bigger deal than anything else because it reaches into everything.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>Well, it\u2019s interesting you put it in evolutionary terms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>I think about it like that. And one of the lines I had in <em>Burn Book<\/em> was that everything that can be digitized will be digitized. And so the analogy I\u2019m using right now is that we have to stop thinking AI is going to kill humanity. It\u2019s like guns, you know, guns kill people. Like, no. People kill people, right? Or the car just ran into someone, got in an accident. These are people at the helm of these things, making these businesses and making a lot of money. That\u2019s one thing. The analogy I use is nuclear energy, nuclear fission, like cutting up the bomb. And it\u2019s the thing I said on <em>Pivot<\/em> today, which is they split the atom and, oops, it went boom. Oppenheimer knew it would go boom. They know what this is going to do. They don\u2019t know everything. And they often do. One of the things about tech people is they\u2019re the smartest people in the world, in case you need to know, because they like to tell you.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>And they\u2019ll remind you.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>And they\u2019ll remind you. But then they\u2019re like, <em>We don\u2019t know<\/em>. That\u2019s the thing that drives me crazy. And so I compare it to nuclear energy. Can you imagine if, when we were developing the bomb, it was private companies doing it? It\u2019s the same thing. And AI is even more powerful because it can set off a nuclear bomb. So let\u2019s be clear of where it could be going.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>I think the point you make is so important that we have to remember. That there are people using their own agency and power and wealth to make decisions that will affect everyone. Talk about those people for a minute, because you\u2019ve known a lot of these figures for a long time, and I\u2019m curious to hear. First of all, there is this sort of really interesting reordering of what even the major tech companies are. Like five to seven years ago, we would have maybe not even mentioned Sam Altman or Dario Amodei.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher:<\/strong> Sure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>But talk about from what you\u2019ve known of the folks you\u2019ve known well and covered and written about over many years. How is Silicon Valley different? Does this flow from the original sort of pioneering spirit of <em>Let\u2019s build it because we can\u2014<\/em>and there is true optimism there, and there are potentially great uses for AI\u2014or has something shifted in the culture of Silicon Valley?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>You know, I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s a culture there anymore. There was. And actually this week I interviewed Aaron Sorkin at a private event. I\u2019ll have him on the podcast in a longer interview, but, about ex-Facebook people, watching <em>The Social Reckoning<\/em>, which is quite good. It\u2019s not as good as the first one, but it\u2019s good. It\u2019s a really good movie. But I saw a lot of people and we were like, <em>What happened to us?<\/em> I saw a lot of people I covered, and it was a real community. It really was. And it was very exciting and fun and interesting. And everybody has scattered to the winds essentially. The very wealthy people have insulated themselves in these places where they have an enormous amount of enablers. \u201cCashmere prisons\u201d is what I call them. They have chiefs of staff and cars and this and that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>Right, it\u2019s not like tinkering in your garage anymore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>It never was. They love to do that. <em>Look, I\u2019m wearing a hoodie<\/em>. I\u2019m like, that hoodie costs $600. So I did one of my first stories for <em>The Wall Street Journal<\/em> about that. All the weird things they\u2019d have to do.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><em>We\u2019re all equal.<\/em> I\u2019m like, why do you have controlling share? And they\u2019d be like, <em>Well, because to protect it<\/em>. I go, yeah, but if we\u2019re all equal, why aren\u2019t we equal? They used to always lie to themselves almost continually. And now they\u2019ve just figured out that all they have to do is hand money, and then they get what they want, or they don\u2019t. So they have this idea of being simple people. And they\u2019re not. They\u2019re just not like you and I, and they pretend they are. I really do actually like Mark Zuckerberg doing his fighting, right? Fine. Whatever. It\u2019s weird, but fine. I\u2019m not going to judge. I do myself judge, but that\u2019s okay. But I\u2019m like, good. I\u2019m like, good, good, good, great. You do that. But why do you need to do it on a floating thing in Lake Tahoe?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>At least it wasn\u2019t the White House lawn?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>That was fine. Whatever. I couldn\u2019t get mad about that. I don\u2019t give a fuck if he wants to do that. And then he hired MMA people. And, like, the MMA people have to pretend they\u2019re having a good time. The whole thing, it feels Roman-like. And of course, he loves Rome.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\">He\u2019ll probably think that\u2019s a compliment, but it\u2019s not. But it feels odd. And it\u2019s accompanied by a feeling of victimization. <em>How dare you not understand my genius?<\/em> . My famous parting with Elon Musk is he didn\u2019t like a tweet I had. Then he wrote me, <em>You\u2019re an asshole<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>What was the tweet?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher:<\/strong> Elon\u2019s going to Elon. I know, crazy mean. And since then, I have done a lot better. But it\u2019s crazy. I have a heart filled with hate, according to him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>Let\u2019s talk about the economy. So there are any number of scenarios that I\u2019m really curious about. You hear people talking about how AI is entirely a bubble and it\u2019s hype. Or, you know, especially recently after the Dario Amodei essay, this question of <em>Oh, are they afraid of their own IPO?<\/em> Or does the economy crash?.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>It\u2019s very confusing. But here\u2019s the thing. I think they\u2019re genuinely concerned. But why now? Because 10 years ago, 12 years ago, I\u2019ve been at dinner parties where they talked about this concern. Sergey Brin, all of them. They were concerned then; they knew the atom would go boom when it blew up. They knew it. Now it\u2019s happened. One of the things I didn\u2019t think got a lot of attention that should have was the Hugging Face hack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>It has now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>It has now. But at the time I was, like, what?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>Two months ago or whatever, right.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>I think they were surprised by that. Although why would you be surprised? I tell this story again and again because I want people to understand. When Facebook came out with Facebook Live, I was in a room getting it demoed and I pointed out you could commit a murder on it. What are you going to do about that? What if people do this? What if people do this? What if bad actors get a hold of this? And they called me a bummer, like they never anticipated the consequences. Same thing here. What are you going to do when AI does what we think it\u2019s going to do? And so they are genuinely nervous. Because now suddenly there\u2019s liability, whether it\u2019s Facebook\u2019s $17 billion settlement\u2014not enough, but better than $5 million, which was the last fine they got essentially.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\">They\u2019re starting to see, like cigarette manufacturers, that the lawsuits are piling up, whether it be chatbots, with kids or whatever. And I started interviewing the parents two years ago who were affected by these chatbots. And one of these guys came up to me and said, <em>When are you going to stop interviewing the parents?<\/em> I go, when you go to jail, I said, that\u2019s when. This is criminal, what you\u2019re doing, and you\u2019re releasing a dangerous product without any kind of guardrails. But then the government, all our public officials, have let us down. I\u2019m talking about the federal government. The states are trying. They have let us down. Right now, they found out. They\u2019re nervous about it; I think they\u2019re nervous about liability. That\u2019s one. Two, the costs of this are insane. Like the internet cost a lot, but paid off. This is something else. There\u2019s 10 frontier companies, whatever. Seven frontier companies. There\u2019s going to be two.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>Do you think that the two that survive are going to be among the seven today? Or is there some new player that\u2019s going to emerge?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>Yeah, Google will be one of them. And then another probably. I don\u2019t know which one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>If you had to bet, which?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>I think they\u2019ll merge. It\u2019ll probably be Google and Anthropic. But I don\u2019t know. ChatGPT\u2014it\u2019s too expensive, what they\u2019re making. It\u2019s not sustainable, and it\u2019s not in the old-internet way of not-sustainable. This is disastrous. If e-toys went bust, who the fuck cares, right? But this is massive. This is trillions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>And it props up the whole economy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>It props up the stock market. Trump has made a bet on AI that is very dangerous and it\u2019s very fragile. And then it has companies next to it\u2014Nvidia, Oracle, all those other things. And so there\u2019s a financial worry they have. So they\u2019re worried about liability and criminal liability. They\u2019re worried about the stock market. And they\u2019re desperate not to be blamed for what\u2019s about to happen. And especially with the stock market\u2014I\u2019m amazed the stock market still hasn\u2019t really taken the hit. It\u2019s probably going to. Our stock market depends on seven companies. That\u2019s not good.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>I hate to make you speculate but I\u2019m going to: So, when I think about this, there are any number of ways things could sour economically. There can be a regular old correction\u2014 maybe it\u2019s a bubble, maybe it\u2019s dotcom bust\u2014that sort of thing. You could even imagine swarms of bots are starting to take over the internet, rendering the internet unusable, and then we can\u2019t rely on the internet the way that we do and the global economy relies on. You could imagine a bank run because people are freaked out by AI. You could imagine a bank run led by AI agents because they\u2019re the ones doing the trading. When you think through all the different scenarios that would not be good for the economy, what is the most likely outcome?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>All of the above. Any of the above. We already have a lot of threats to our infrastructure from foreign actors. This is us doing it. And one of the things that drives me crazy is it\u2019s being fed on humanity. Humans with superhuman intelligence are going to do bad things, and that\u2019s the one thing they don\u2019t anticipate\u2014technology that can be a tool, but it is always a weapon. There\u2019s never a moment where it\u2019s not both. Any of these scenarios are totally possible. And then who\u2019s to blame? What happens? Who fixes it? What are we going to do to mitigate things like that?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\">Right now Trump is having a meeting. Guess who\u2019s in the meeting? All the tech leaders. Are any critics, academics, scientists in there? I wasn\u2019t invited to the White House, and neither was Scott Galloway. We have some thoughts of things you should do. We\u2019re not experts, but we\u2019re pretty good. They don\u2019t invite anyone that would push back. Their favorite argument is that the reason we\u2019re on top is because we\u2019re unfettered. This is bullshit. They\u2019re not the only innovative industry in our history. Cars were pretty cool. Light. I love electricity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\">But these are things that happen at those times. So they act like they\u2019re the only people who have invented things. I just watched the series on Ben Franklin. That guy invented a lot of shit. You know what I mean?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance:<\/strong> A top-tier guy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher:<\/strong> He really was, actually. A really important person. But they think they\u2019re the only thing. That\u2019s really astonishing that they don\u2019t think that, <em>Oh, we cannot be fettered. We cannot be fettered<\/em>. Or even edited, when you read some of their essays. Mark Zuckerberg wrote an essay once. He sent it to me and goes, <em>What do you think?<\/em> I go, you\u2019re in desperate need of an editor, but no one\u2019s going to edit him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>Well, it\u2019s funny you mentioned electricity. I\u2019ve been thinking about that in this context, too, that the counterweight to the economic concerns that these companies will offer is that there will be massive productivity gains. But in terms of electricity, it was roughly 1880s that it comes along. It\u2019s really not until the 1920s that factories adopt electricity and the rest of society is starting to see the gains that come from this new technology. Obviously, AI is moving so much more quickly in terms of improvement and eventual self-improvement. But on what timeline should we expect to see its greatest promises fulfilled?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>I think that\u2019s something we actually don\u2019t know. But I\u2019ll tell you, the economy already sucks for most people in this country. Who got all the good bits? They did. Besides the Trumps, who got all the good bits? They do. Like, when are we going to get this stuff? Incomes are still flat. Years ago\u2014and I tell this story a lot because it\u2019s really important\u2014I was talking to one of these people about income inequality, and I kept saying, if we don\u2019t do something about income inequality, you\u2019re going to have to armor-plate your Tesla. That\u2019s where it\u2019s going. And they built the Cybertruck. That was their answer. So it\u2019s really kind of astonishing that they don\u2019t think this is a problem. And they don\u2019t think this is a problem because they live separately. They have a whole world. They have their own health care; they have their own mountains in Montana. These are not the people that are going to fix this thing. The last thing they do is the thing I have long called the \u201cXi or me argument.\u201d It\u2019s either China or us. I was like, not so good. Not a good choice for any of us. We have to come to an agreement globally. Trump\u2019s about to meet with Xi Jinping. Zero is going to happen, because he\u2019s not an Einstein, let me tell you. Everybody, I don\u2019t know if it occurred to you, but Donald Trump is not Einstein. But we have to have a global cooperation with especially China around AI and make decisions. And in China, they have more strictures on their AI than we do here by far. And most people kind of like AI.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>Well, they\u2019re not allowed to not like things.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>I think <em>we\u2019re<\/em> not allowed to not like things. I think we have to say, <em>Oh, look, you\u2019re wealthy and therefore you have the answer to everything<\/em>. And you\u2019ve noticed with these tech people, suddenly they\u2019re experts on Ukraine; suddenly they\u2019re experts on vaccines. At one point, I think it was Bill Ackman, who just gives me a headache every time I think of him. But come on. I\u2019m glad he\u2019s doing the brain institute. Good for him. But he did a whole thing on DEI. He was obsessed with DEI. They\u2019re all obsessed with unfairness of other people. Whatever. Only people with a gun to the head of humanity would say they\u2019re a victim, but he went on and on about DEI, and I think I said something like, I\u2019m going to do a multipart series of tweets on hedge-fund investment because I know nothing. They think it extends to other things.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>The hubris.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>Yeah. Can you imagine a Wall Street guy doing this? They\u2019re just here to make money. If I leave you any message, they\u2019re here to make money. That\u2019s all they care about. They care about shareholder value. They care about protecting their stuff. They care about their weird beefs with each other. Because a lot of what\u2019s happening in the AI thing, if you\u2019re noticing all these different speeches by wacky Palantir guy who is in very desperate need of a green tea\u2014no, not a green tea. What\u2019s a calming tea? Whatever. I was almost like, here\u2019s a gummy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance:<\/strong> Chamomile, someone said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher:<\/strong> He\u2019s in desperate need of chamomile. They all have different opinions because there\u2019s all these beefs happening in their businesses and they act like that\u2019s not the thing. If I leave you any message: They don\u2019t care about you. They don\u2019t care at all. And it\u2019s not to say they hate you. They don\u2019t care about you.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>Let\u2019s talk about regulation because this moment has been interesting for me\u2014this new push to pace the frontier, to slow the pace of AI development. People are seeing this as a novel thing in the tech industry. My somewhat cynical position from someone who\u2019s covered tech for a long time is that we saw Mark Zuckerberg do the same when he realized he was up against the wall with Facebook, this posture of<em> Regulate me, bro, please.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>Yes. Well, throw me in that briar patch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>Congress has no recent history of effectively regulating anything in tech. But what <em>should<\/em> happen? And are these calls for regulation even realistic?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>I know Congress has regulated things. They\u2019ve regulated planes and trains.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>In recent history. I mean, post-2000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>They haven\u2019t. And it\u2019s because in the beginning, when they did Section 230 and I covered that for <em>The Washington Post<\/em>, they wanted to make it grow. Well guess what? The baby is a fucking monster.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>Section 230, for people who aren\u2019t as much of tech nerds as we are, is the law that makes it such that the owners of social-media platforms can\u2019t be treated as publishers, so they\u2019re not treated as responsible for the material that they publish on their platforms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>They can\u2019t be sued. Now they are. Now what\u2019s happening is two things that I think you should keep in mind. One is the legal stuff that\u2019s going on\u2014all this liability and product-liability and negligence stuff is starting to gain ground very much like the cigarette. You\u2019re going to see tons and tons of that. That\u2019s great. Let the lawyers after them. Our lawyers always do a good job at taking money from people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>And that\u2019ll probably start at the state level. Don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>It has started at the state level. But right now, one of the things they\u2019re relying on is that the reason why they\u2019re kowtowing to Trump is because they think he\u2019ll do bad things to them. That\u2019s why they\u2019re doing it. That\u2019s why you saw this rumor that\u2014I urge you all to go see the Musk documentary. It\u2019s terrific, by Alex Gibney. But Universal was thinking of not distributing it. They\u2019re all trying to think of doing things to quiet him down. November comes, which\u2014and I think it\u2019s going to go the way everybody thinks it is. The Democrats are coming for them, and they think the Democrats won\u2019t because they\u2019re not crazy like Trump. One of them said to me, <em>Well, the Democrats won\u2019t be as mean to us as Trump<\/em>. I said, they\u2019re going to be as mean to you, and I\u2019m going to be standing behind them yelling you better be fucking mean to them because they deserve to be regulated. They deserve it. And it\u2019s better for them. It\u2019s better for us, and we have to stop relying on them as magicians. They\u2019re like alchemists. They\u2019re not. They\u2019re not smarter than you. They\u2019re just richer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\">We never had a privacy legislation in this country. We\u2019ve never had algorithmic transparency. There\u2019s like a dozen things we could do that would not hurt their businesses and would make us safer. And I think what they\u2019ve done to us with social media, to our kids\u2013and to us, by the way. It\u2019s not just our kids who are; we\u2019re all addicted, right? We\u2019ve all been made addicted to this thing. And I think voters, and, I\u2019ll finish with this, data centers, is a proxy. The anger over data centers, which is very real, is a proxy for the anger regular people know and feel in their own lives about what this is doing to them, and it doesn\u2019t make them anti-tech. Tech is amazing. I love tech, but it doesn\u2019t have to kill us, right? A 10 percent chance. Whatever it happens to be. The percent is actually 14.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>I need to ask you one more question. We\u2019re not going to let it end on that note, I need to ask you one more question. What are you doing right now? It\u2019s such an uncertain time. What have you changed in your life to prepare for this moment? Are you buying gold bars?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>No.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance:<\/strong> No, but seriously, what? What are you doing? And what should people do? And how should we think about?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>Don\u2019t buy gold bars. Don\u2019t go there, okay? That\u2019s bad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>Okay, sure. But is there anything we should do?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>She\u2019s bought gold bars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>I don\u2019t even know where to buy a gold bar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>They\u2019re also heavy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>So that was a bad example. But what should we do? What? Because the individual can feel like you\u2019re up against this behemoth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>But you\u2019re not. This has happened before in American history. You are not up against this behemoth. They fall quickly. Trust me, they do. They\u2019re very much bullies in some fashion. I\u2019ll tell you two very quick stories. One of these people, Sam Altman, has had an apocalypse plan, and he told it to me years ago. This is 100 years. They all were into the apocalypse plan, which was weird to me. And he goes, <em>This is what I have. I\u2019ve got this place in Big Sur. I\u2019ve got a motorcycle at my house,<\/em> where I know where he lives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>He\u2019s later said he regretted telling you this, by the way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>Okay, so I\u2019ll repeat it then. I don\u2019t really care. I don\u2019t give a fuck. So he told me this whole plan and he goes, <em>What\u2019s your plan?<\/em> I said, I\u2019m going to kill you and take your things. And then he thought, <em>She could kill me and take my things<\/em>. And he hadn\u2019t planned on that, genius that he is. And he\u2019s a little guy, so I could easily take him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>All right. We should solve this nonviolently.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>Don\u2019t do it. But don\u2019t participate in their apocalyptic\u2014<em>We\u2019re going to Mars. We have our bunkers.<\/em> Fuck them. This is our world. You know what I mean? Don\u2019t participate and let them run the fucking show. It\u2019s yours. Go to your legislatures, push back. All these people across the country are pushing back on data centers. It\u2019s going to matter. The only people I believe in in this country are voters. Like, even if they make bad choices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance:<\/strong> Hear, hear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher:<\/strong> I think that we have to stop giving them this power and demand of our public officials that they stop being essentially handmaidens to sedition. That\u2019s what\u2019s happened here.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance: <\/strong>I could talk to you all day, Kara. We\u2019ve got to run.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>Swisher: <\/strong>No gold bars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleParagraph_root__4mszW\" data-flatplan-paragraph=\"true\"><strong>LaFrance:<\/strong> No gold bars!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/2026\/09\/kara-swisher-ai-destroy-humanity-atlantic-festival\/688721\/?utm_source=feed\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the AI industry likes to tell it, superintelligent bots could one day cure cancer and end poverty. Or in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/thumbor\/zYLwfVJ5OIVRtiOzuvsqTPC8u8A=\/0x85:3994x2165\/1200x625\/media\/img\/mt\/2026\/09\/2026_09_18_Kara_Swisher_w_Adrienne_LaFrance_TAF\/original.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwts-elimination.myftp.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwts-elimination.myftp.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwts-elimination.myftp.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwts-elimination.myftp.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwts-elimination.myftp.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dwts-elimination.myftp.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwts-elimination.myftp.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwts-elimination.myftp.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwts-elimination.myftp.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwts-elimination.myftp.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}