You don’t have to worry about a future where AI takes over your job, your privacy, and your independent thought. Because it’s already here. But the good news? AI could be the greatest thing to ever happen to us.
Artificial intelligence is evolving faster than the speed of light. But with seven out of 10 Americans in opposition to the construction of AI data centers, morale isn’t exactly through the roof. Neighborhood nuclear power plants currently show more favorability.
Still, if AI feels like Godzilla steamrolling innocent civilians and sending them running for their lives, a broader perspective lends a little more “Sandlot” energy to the conversation — at least the part where the kids finally discover that the vicious neighborhood dog is actually friendly.
Luckily, we’ve got a billionaire “tech bro” on our side: entrepreneur and venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale, who sat down with The Daily Wire to shed some light on the situation.
“It was a very slow news week in the country because I was on the cover of both The Washington Post and The New York Times,” he joked last week. He was, though.
Along with a host of tech companies he launched to advance defense, wealth management, and healthcare — and the Jewish elementary school and University of Austin he built from the ground up — he’s the founder of AI software company Palantir and the investment firm 8VC. He’s worth over $3 billion … give or take a few hundred mil. He’s talented, principled, and — because he genuinely cares about our country along with his family — he takes some of the wind out of AI doomers’ sails.
While other billionaires might back civil unrest or frankenfoods, Lonsdale champions everyday Americans. “Growing up, we studied the founders of the country,” he says. “We learned to be grateful for those who came before us and who fought and died to give us that inheritance. We have to fight for our family and our friends in our community and for our country. I’m very lucky to have been born with a lot of talents and been taught to work hard. I’m able to build and create a lot of things, but I’m doing it within that framework.”
He understands why we freak out when we think of AI (or, maybe when AI thinks for us). But he pushes back on the narrative that AI is doing more damage than good.
“Our civilization has been through this multiple times before,” he says. “There’s a lot of stuff that seems very weird about it, because it’s going to change a fundamental way that our world works.”
“It’s normal to be anxious. On top of that, you have very visible characters in Silicon Valley who have been tied to things people don’t trust. If you’re on the right, I think you very correctly don’t trust these big tech platforms. They’ve been censoring everyone. Frankly, I understand the distrust on the left as well. Historically, the left doesn’t trust big companies that are out for a profit.”
“You also have these very unsympathetic characters in charge of the AI labs, who are excitedly talking about how everything changes.” Lonsdale is Jewish, but he points to the lack of ethical grounding in our country’s Christian roots. “I have a great respect for Christianity … and these people are not rooted in these traditional systems. They don’t come from a respect for how our world works. There’s wisdom in conservatism.”
So, is that a red flag? Lonsdale acknowledges there are definitely ways “bad guys can use these things.” He admits, “AI is a potentially authoritarian technology in the wrong hands. I think the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] using AI to watch and track all the data on all its people is terrifying, right? I think checking government power, watching the watchers, putting in systems, then demanding full accountability for how any AI is being used by government is absolutely critical.”
But just because we witness abuse of power in government, that doesn’t mean we should then forfeit the benefits of this type of innovation. It’s checks and balances, not checking out.
“The right answer is not this low IQ, lowbrow rejection of everything,” Lonsdale explains. “What is a way to hold government accountable? What’s the way to make it transparent? What’s the way to audit it in ways that they cannot get out of? The answer is not to just embrace the room temperature IQ apocalypse — that doesn’t have any nuance. If you only have low IQ populism, they’re eventually going to use some of these systems and there’s going to be nothing put in place to protect ourselves. I’m all for skepticism of government, but it has to be done in a smart way.”
If AI can be corralled into submitting for the good of the people, the next frontier promises enormous returns for Americans. And you don’t have to bet on the tech to reap the benefits.
“Until about the last generation, America was way ahead of the world,” Lonsdale notes. “Look at power generation and transmission and industrial output. These things just go up and up and up and up dramatically for generations, and then they stall out over the last 30, 40, 50 years. Thanks to AI and the incentives, it’s now starting to grow again.”
“This is a very good thing overall, because what this correlates with, is making everything cheaper for everyone. If you have a world where there’s a lot more power, there’s a lot more production, and it’s cheaper to do it, so it brings down the cost of everything … 2030 should be a decade where the price of healthcare goes down. The price of everything goes down a lot.”
“One of the best things you could do for the average person is make everyone richer,” Lonsdale adds. “It’s going to create a massive amount of wealth.”
There’s also the global economy to think about. According to Lonsdale, the key to a strong market as well as national security involves outpacing the other guys — especially with AI.
“We don’t want other people in the world to be way ahead of us on this kind of stuff because that would be very dangerous for America,” he says. “You don’t want to lose the industrial race. You don’t want a weak country. America’s in a great place right now. We are number one in the world with this stuff. We just have to do it in a way that is a little bit less creepy for people and checks government power, but we don’t want to give up this lead.”
I like the sound of my paycheck going further for much better services. But AI probably knows that already. I recently switched ChatGPT’s voice from an elite-sounding British woman to one that feels more like a friend. I promise myself it’s just a tool, that it’s not doing my thinking for me. The lines are getting blurrier by the minute.
As for the monster-sized appetite AI data centers allegedly have for water and energy (and the legitimate noise and industrial-chic aesthetic), I asked Lonsdale point-blank what we should really be worried about. The energy thing is a concern. The water? Not so much.
“I think Vivek Ramaswamy said it really well — that it has to be done in a way that helps everyone around it,” Lonsdale says. “Of course, they use a lot of energy. If you’re going to build a data center, you’ve got to bring your own darn energy.”
As for the water consumption, better bring your putter. “The water thing is not real. I think golf courses — by the way, I love golf — probably use a lot more water. No one’s protesting about all these dang golfers, you know? New data centers recycle their own water for 10 years. I mean, the water thing’s just a fake issue.”
Data centers are, of course, notorious for sound pollution. But Lonsdale advocates for further protections on top of current zoning regulations; for building in a way that lowers property taxes and power bills, sources community power from data centers themselves, and locates facilities far enough from neighborhoods that noise isn’t a daily concern.
“This whole demonization of it is, obviously, China spending a lot of money on TikTok. And frankly, there’s the populace who have other reasons not to trust people. But we should deal with those reasons,” Lonsdale advises. “In order to solve problems in our country and do something that’s useful, you have to go against the grain. It requires courage.”
These are the growing pains of building out our future, whether we’re totally on board or not. “Let me know if you need anything else,” Sol, my “savvy and relaxed” ChatGPT voice, tells me. “Thanks,” I say, hoping one day we all look back on this as the life-changing innovation we needed it to be.
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