Big Technology Podcast
00:03:53 · Alex Kantrowitz
[00:03:53] S0: Now for me, when I think about US politics, I always think, well, the bark is typically louder than the bite and especially regarding their regulation of tech and the rules they've applied to tech. They haven't really done much even though there've been, like, clear exes. Like, all these companies lost, All the big tech companies lost, antitrust cases or had to settle them with the FTC and the DOJ, and yet nothing really stopped them. But I do wonder if this time is different or at least if we're gonna see an even greater backlash than we did previously. And one of the things that makes me think about this is a lot of the, things that need to happen for the AI build out to continue are physical. Right? The world... The word is build out. They need compute. They need data centers to continue to expand and serve their models. And, let me just read you a, a headline from the Washington Post, a Nash... A a nationwide backlash against data centers erupts at the polls. Voters in at least 38 jurisdictions across the country passed bans or restrictions on data centers on Tuesday, 38 jurisdictions, reflecting the widespread public revulsions to the facilities and adding to the growth growing pushback on the ambitions of the artificial intelligence industry. I mean, enough said. Right? 38 jurisdictions voted were for bans or restrictions on data centers. So on top of this wave where, by the way, they're probably gonna be reading the tea leaves here, you have a massive amount of voters coming out and saying, we don't want data centers in our backyard. So what do think the implications are there?
00:05:23 · Teddy Schleifer
[00:05:23] S1: Yeah. I mean, this is as close to a a national referendum as you're gonna get. I mean, this is obviously a brand new industry with... Where the politics are still being sorted out in real time. And, clearly, a lot of Americans in 38 different places at least feel the same way. I I haven't reported a ton on on on these different or at all on these referendum or referenda, but clearly, 38 to zero is is is a pretty good average. I mean, we also saw for the first time this election, the data center industry do their own super PAC, which is kind of a... I think speaks to the ways in which the political winds are blowing here, which is that all of this political energy around AI, I think is gonna be channeled much more narrowly into the next battle around data center specifically, where... Why do you start a data center super PAC? It's because you have... You face political challenges or or policy headwinds. And the data center super PAC spent a bunch of money to try to help elect Darlene Graham in South Carolina. She did not win. And I think going forward, lot of... As a lot of these fights kind of take off, you know, there's gonna need to be money spent on behalf of the data center industry, because clearly, regular people are voting the other way. I mean, that's why advocacy operations happen. It's to basically convince people to do something that they wouldn't do otherwise. And right now, a lot of voters are registering their point of view, and the data center industry is only beginning to kind of play play offense. So, you know, I think we're just getting started here, and I think next 2028, I think there's gonna be a ton of spending politically on data centers.
00:07:12 · Alex Kantrowitz
[00:07:12] S0: Now, you're the world's preeminent reporter on how tech money influences politics. And Thank you. It's true. Advertorial. It's true. Yeah. Okay. Folks, for those listening, Teddy and I are friends in case you can't figure it out, but it's it's really true. No one does it like you, Teddy. And I just wanna hear your perspective on what your sources are telling you about what the implications are gonna be if you can share. Because I would imagine they are likely, like the people who are politically active in tech, spending money to get their agenda, they were very pleased in 2024. I imagine they're equally terrified now.
00:07:53 · Teddy Schleifer
[00:07:53] S1: Yeah. I mean, look. The the the comeuppance here for for the tech industry, I think, is still TBD. But clearly, like, I don't think we're appreciating just how good they had it. You know, on on on AI in particular, I mean, this was an administration that was very pliant to the industry. The the... You know, Trump is still gonna be the white... In the White House. It's not as if there's gonna be, like, massive, you know, democratic reforms that are gonna be passed from both chambers and and signed by president Trump. I think I think it's probably unlikely. But there's gonna be guardrails now in a way that there wasn't at least in terms of legislation. And there's gonna be investigations too. Right? I mean, you know, take Elon Musk who, you know, is is suddenly gonna be in in the barrel in a way that he was not two days ago. So whiplash was coming. Right? I mean, you went from being, you know, a co president or for or while effectively kind of helping lead the US government to suddenly being, like, testifying on the hill, and there's gonna be this whole whole effort by Democrats, I think, to atone for the last two years of what Democrats see as as industry run amok. So I expect it to be pretty brutal. I think that the political calculus is changing rapidly for all these companies too. Like, I think there's gonna be... There's been all there have been all these jokes I've seen on Twitter or about, like, these efforts by Democratic or tech companies to, like, re embrace their DEI policies, and then, you know, re embrace kind of their their Democratic bona fides. Like, it's a joke, it's funny because there's an element of truth to it. I think there's gonna be, you know, tech companies that are hiring or promoting, you know, government relations heads who are tied to the Democratic Party and making sure that they know that they have a Democratic mega donor in leadership, stuff like that. Part of this is perception. And I think the companies wanted to fulfill a certain perception from 2025, 2026, and they'll fulfill a different perception in the next two years.
00:10:09 · Alex Kantrowitz, Teddy Schleifer
[00:10:09] S0: Okay. And as much as you can say, is the vibe around the people that you speak with, like, this is not gonna be a big deal or or, oh, goodness, we're in trouble. Like, what is their, basically, emotional state today? [00:10:20] S1: I think it's the latter. I think it'll be a big deal for the tech industry, and it'll be it'll be painful. [00:10:28] S0: And they realize that? [00:10:30] S1: I don't know. I don't know if they realize that yet, but the the the... I think there's there's... They're beginning to realize that. These things are... I think there's there's still... The the the election last time was very shocking in a way that people are not totally grappling with the results yet. Also, this is... I'm saying this is only two years. Like like, you know, a lot of these US senators were obviously just elected for six years. So, you know, there's gonna be a lot of Democrats who ran for the Senate on a agenda, at least when they ran on, like, taking on the billionaire class, taking on the AI industry, taking on data centers, and these people are gonna be in office for the next six years. So it is not as if these things will be easily reversed. So they have six years to grapple with it. And then in a lot of ways that shows kind of the generational impact of this election is that there's all these accidental senators or accidental congressmen who are gonna be here for... At least some of them will be here for a while, and and that's gonna reshape kind of the political political context of tech.
00:11:34 · Alex Kantrowitz, Teddy Schleifer
[00:11:34] S0: Mhmm. You know, it is interesting because the tech leadership did embrace Trump and the Republican Party pretty intensely. Now there's nuance there. Right? It's like, of course, like David Sacks, the All In Podcast, and Jensen Huang have been, like, very big, you know, supporters of... Supporters of Trump. They've praised him. So, you know, Sax works in the administration. But to Democrats, that's also... You know, that there are... And and not everybody has been on that level. But I think what really matters is what it looks like to Democrats. And to Democrats, you know, they're gonna look back at those pictures of all the tech CEOs at the inauguration. They're gonna look at the vibe that they're getting from Silicon Valley. They're gonna look at the polling numbers for AI, which are miserable, right, in in the toilet. And I'm curious what you think... Whether you think that will embolden them to, you know, take more aggressive action or make this one of their bigger issues. [00:12:38] S1: Yeah. I I I think that's true. I mean, I mean, tell me what you think is gonna be... What do you... What what what... What's striking you with that question?