Gov. Ron DeSantis says there is a “huge downside” to artificial intelligence that he worries will compete with people for resources like power and water, ultimately challenging what it is to be human.
DeSantis failed to get legislation passed that would have put guardrails on the AI sector, but he still continues to speak out against the technology.
Taking issue with claims that artificial intelligence is creating an “industrial renaissance,” DeSantis noted that data centers, which he believes “symbolize a future that a lot of people don’t find appealing,” are often constructed not in “hollowed-out industrial areas.”
Rather, farms and ranches provide the homes for the facilities, which DeSantis believes threatens the state’s environmental ecosystem.
He also believes that artificial intelligence presents an existential challenge to the economic utility of humans themselves, and that advocates for the technology gloss over those consequences.
“If you’re running one of these companies, why would you go out and say half the people are going to lose their jobs?” DeSantis said Wednesday during a news conference in Tampa.
“You wonder why people don’t like you? ‘Oh, yeah, everyone’s just going to get universal basic income (UBI). We’re going to put you all on ’cause there’s not going to be jobs for people.’ You can understand why people don’t think that’s a very appetizing future.”
DeSantis returned to the UBI theme during his remarks, differentiating AI from other technological advancements that he believes empowered people.
“I think most people have aspirations to actually have a job, have a business,” DeSantis said.
“Most technology throughout history, it creates disruption. But a lot of times it opens up new opportunities. So there are jobs that are done today that didn’t exist 30 years ago in our economy, partially because of technology, and it’s done that. But I just find it kind of troubling that they would not be making that argument,” he added, referring to those in charge of major AI companies.
Young people are especially ill-disposed to it, DeSantis added.
“They’re basically just saying chronically high unemployment, no future. And that’s why these people that go to these college commencements, they start talking about AI, and the students boo them. And I just find that very interesting,” DeSantis said.
Ultimately, he believes AI as it is being implemented runs counter to what the Founding Fathers wanted, specifically regarding “concentrations of power” that are prone to “abuse.”
“That’s as true in a massive tech company as it would be if you’re doing the reins of government. So these are real profound implications about, okay, are we just a cog in the wheel here?” DeSantis pondered.
“Is it kind of like a techno serfdom that we’re going towards? What are we doing? I think a lot of people, just by listening to what the people who are touting the technology are talking about, they have those concerns. So it’s not at all surprising to me that this stuff is very, very unpopular.”
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