00:00:00 · S0, Danny Fortson, Katie Prescott
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00:01:17 · Katie Prescott, Danny Fortson
[00:01:17] S2: ServiceNow sits across all that, acting as a control tower for making work move seamlessly through the organization. [00:01:24] S1: Connecting people, systems, data, and increasingly AI agents so that things don't happen in silos. [00:01:30] S2: Learn how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people at servicenow.com. Hello. You are listening or maybe even watching Times Tech, where we unpack how technology is reshaping everyday life. My name's Katie Prescott. [00:01:50] S1: And I am Danny Fortson. And this week, we're asking, what do the results of the US midterms mean for big tech? While it's a very clear loss for Trump and the Republican Party, in many states, tech billionaires and AI were very much on the ballot. [00:02:06] S2: And my, how the world has changed the last set of midterms in 2022. I mean, just back then, OpenAI hadn't released ChatGPT. It was just... It feels like another world.
00:02:06 · Katie Prescott, Danny Fortson
[00:02:06] S2: And my, how the world has changed the last set of midterms in 2022. I mean, just back then, OpenAI hadn't released ChatGPT. It was just... It feels like another world. [00:02:17] S1: Yeah. Absolutely. And, you know, the the kind of the physical manifestation of all of this, the kind of AI boom are data centers. They've become really, really unpopular across the country, both amongst Republican and Democrat voters. And I've been speaking with folks in Texas for a piece I just wrote in the paper, and they are on track. That's one state to become the data center capital of the world, or at least they were until the Republicans were swept out of office, including a new Democrat governor, Gina Hinojosa, who has said she wants to impose a ban, a moratorium, get rid of tax breaks for for new data centers, etcetera. So it... You know, it's a new broom coming in, just in Texas, but really across the country. [00:03:04] S2: And we should say as we're recording this, I mean, you are waking up to this news. Right? It's what? 08:39 in the morning for you? What's what's that been like?
00:03:04 · Katie Prescott, Danny Fortson
[00:03:04] S2: And we should say as we're recording this, I mean, you are waking up to this news. Right? It's what? 08:39 in the morning for you? What's what's that been like? [00:03:14] S1: By the time we went went to bed last night, it was pretty clear that, you know, this is the biggest kind of change election probably in something like fifty years in terms of a midterm election where one party just really sweeps into power and knocks the knocks the other off its perch. So it was really quite incredible. And, you know, my phone is blowing up from family, from friends, different parts of the country. I have a... I'm one of four kids, so we are like a kind of a family divided by politics. So, you know, it's been an interesting... The the text chatter, this morning across the family WhatsApp. But, you know, it's really incredible that the Democrats have taken control of both houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate. And, really, I remember talking about the election two years ago on this podcast where I was like, you know, Donald Trump's running for president, then, like, AI wasn't even on... Wasn't even talked about. And I remember thinking at the time, that's so weird because it was all you and I were talking about. And it seemed like such... Like, this big freight train that was headed toward the economy and everybody. And it just wasn't talked about. And this time, two years later, it was like center of the bull's eye Yeah. For a bunch of races across the country.
00:04:34 · Katie Prescott, Danny Fortson
[00:04:34] S2: As you say, it's sort of... It's the the data center point. I mean, obviously, there's things going on in the economy and the cost of living, but it's it's... In terms of tech, it's the data centers, but it's also the power and the money Mhmm. I feel behind it. And it feels like there's a a real sort of backlash against the [00:04:51] S1: The rise [00:04:51] S2: of the tech billionaires [00:04:53] S1: Yeah. [00:04:53] S2: Who are controlling this. We've seen Elon Musk donate almost $500,000,000 to the Republican campaign, about 250,000,000 of that to Texas. I mean, just Absolutely. [00:05:05] S1: There's a lot to, dig into for sure. But before we do that, we should give people a quick reminder. You know, we we are split in two. We have the the... Our news show, which is what you're listening to now, and then The Big Interview coming on Sunday. And who do we have this week?
00:05:05 · Danny Fortson, Katie Prescott
[00:05:05] S1: There's a lot to, dig into for sure. But before we do that, we should give people a quick reminder. You know, we we are split in two. We have the the... Our news show, which is what you're listening to now, and then The Big Interview coming on Sunday. And who do we have this week? [00:05:21] S2: It's a it's a goodie. I've been speaking to Yoel Roth, who's the head of trust and safety at Match Group, but you may know him best from his Twitter, where he had a similar role at the time that Elon Musk took over the company. And how do I put this politely? Rather shook up its trust and safety regime. And he had a bit of a public fallout with Elon Musk at that time. We spoke about whether AI can help you find love, because, of course, he's at Match Group, but also why tech bosses in general are taking a step back from online safety. But, anyway, let's get back to today's episode and what you're waking up to. As fascinating as it, a few years ago, I think many people had not heard of a data center. And if they had, I'm not sure they'd have had a particular opinion on them. But when you look at the speed at which they're growing, the amount of electricity, the amount of water that they use, it's fueling a huge public backlash around the world, and particularly where you are.