Public opposition to artificial intelligence and data centers is at the forefront worldwide. goldman sachs Communication Peers + Technology Conference.
core weave CEO Mike Intrator told CNBC’s David Faber that companies aren’t doing enough to explain the benefits of this technology to the public.
“I don’t think we’ve done a particularly good job of talking about the benefits that AI companies can bring to people, governments and decision-making through data centers,” Intrater said in comments aired Wednesday.
This annual conference brings together leaders from the biggest technology and media companies to discuss the adoption of AI, perhaps one of the biggest opportunities and risks facing companies of all types, as well as the pushback many communities are showing against its creation.
Intrater argued that the anxiety around change isn’t specifically about data centers, but about how quickly things are changing.
“It was just, ‘Hey, you know the world is changing, and it’s changing very quickly, and it’s going to affect me too. It’s going to affect my kids, too, and what will that be like? And that’s scary,'” he added.
Visa CEO Ryan McInerney has noted consumer distrust of AI in commerce and said the development of new methods has been “a little slower than we expected.”
“When you ask consumers if they can trust these agency platforms to make payments on their behalf, the answer is simply not,” McInerney said.
As the Goldman conference got underway, other comments from the tech industry gained attention as an AI researcher quit his job at Anthropic Tuesday and warned that rapidly evolving technology “could destroy us all by the end of the decade.”
Jacob Coxon worked at both. human and its main competitors OpenAIaccused companies of “putting their lives on the line” in the race to make AI super-intelligent.
“Do not underestimate the power of this technology. These will soon become superhuman systems capable of hacking anything, revolutionizing any field overnight, and gaining real power and resources. We have all witnessed progress in each of these areas, and progress is not slowing down,” Coxon wrote in a post to X announcing his resignation.
Cable companies talk about broadband pressure
Other disruptions were also on the agenda Wednesday, as cable company executives continue to anticipate competitive pressures on their broadband businesses.
both comcast and charter communications In recent years, we have seen a quarterly decline in broadband customers due to the rise of alternatives, namely fixed wireless (5G) providers.
On Wednesday, Comcast Chief Financial Officer Jason Armstrong reiterated that pressure remains, particularly from fixed wireless.
In addition to competition from fixed wireless, “satellite looms as a potential threat,” Armstrong said Wednesday. He added that competition from satellite providers like Starlink isn’t necessarily there yet, but “there’s no need to be complacent.”
“Over time, I think we’ll see that, especially in rural markets and maybe deep suburban markets,” Armstrong said of potential satellite competition.
Shares of Comcast and Charter each fell more than 5% in midday trading.
Comcast and Charter have retooled their pricing strategies in recent years and relied on their growing mobile businesses as a way to retain and potentially acquire more broadband customers.
Armstrong added that as he said on Comcast’s second-quarter earnings call, the company has begun to face “unreasonable competition” in pricing for fiber broadband, and that continued into the third quarter.
For the period ended June 30, Comcast reported that the segment’s revenue declined due to another loss of broadband customers, lower rate plans and promotions that were starting to take hold.
In an interview with CNBC’s David Faber on Wednesday, Charter CEO Chris Winfrey said that while competition is impacting the cable broadband business in the short term, management is confident it will improve in the long term.
