Eight years ago, November's US election results dealt a blow to the small staff at Backchannel, the boutique tech publication I used to lead. The next morning, an editor posted on our Slack that working on a technology story seemed boring, if not futile. On the plane from New York to San Francisco, I wrote a column To respond to that impulse was as much for me and my colleagues as it was for the readers. I argued that despite the enormity of this event, one thing had not changed; was the greatest story of our times still The technological revolution we were living through. Disruptive politicians, even destructive politicians, can come and go – or refuse to go. But chips, networks, mobile devices, and everything they contain were changing humanity, and perhaps what it would mean to be human. Our job was to describe that great change, no matter who was in charge politically. The title of my column was “The iPhone is bigger than Donald Trump.”
This week, trump Despite this, he was elected President again… Oh my God, I wouldn't think about slam-dunk disqualifications. You've heard it all, and to most voters it doesn't matter. It's an incredible story, and the next few years will undoubtedly be part of history. Maybe not in a good way. Perhaps too poorly for a country where many expected America's 250th birthday to celebrate its enduring values. (In the spirit of unity, I'll use the qualifier “probably” because losers have to be polite, and who knows what will happen next.)
Still, I am not moving away from the idea I had in 2016. as stewart brand once said“Human nature doesn't change much; Science does so, and change occurs, changing the world irreversibly. What is happening in technology and science remains the activity that will ultimately have the greatest impact on our species. Hundreds of years later, future generations (and possibly ray kurzweil) will look back at this time and recognize it as the period when microchips and neural net software changed everything. and which Was The weird-haired strongman who ruined a real estate-grabbing country in the Western Hemisphere? I no longer run a publication and instead represent a single voice on a much larger staff. (For WIRED's institutional perspective, please note words from my bossWhich I support.) So, speaking for myself, I emphatically reiterate my 2016 statement of purpose, with slight variations: artificial intelligence Bigger than Donald Trump.
Of course, journalists must cover Trump's second presidency vigorously with a consistent demand for accountability. In the short term – for some of us this could be the entire remainder of our tenure! – What happens in our community and country will have a greater impact on our daily lives than the cloud, ChatGPT, or even the latest version of Apple Intelligence. (Sorry, Tim Apple.) If you lose your health care, or your reproductive rights, or find yourself in a extermination camp or a prison cell because of the policies of our returning president, AI, mixed reality, and quantum computers. The knowledge that we may one day be redefined won't make the pain any less.
Furthermore, those of us who cover tech will surely stop reporting on the Trump presidency; Policy, as always, influences the direction of technology. (Remember, the US government produced that thing called the Internet.) There's debate right now over how we should regulate or control AI, a technology that some call “the last invention.” I'm already hearing talk about the new administration killing the expansion executive Order Joe Biden had mandated on AI. Some worry that the new president's mega-adviser Elon Musk — who has his own AI company and builds AI into his other ventures like Tesla and Neuralink — will have large and possibly undue influence on government policies and contracts. I've also heard speculation that the movement to regulate AI could fail because of the threat of China's blanket efforts in this area. This is important, because the basic rules of today's AI and the quirks of its inventors could influence whether the worst fears about the technology come true.
That's why, the day after Donald Trump's reelection, I visited an AI company and interviewed one of its leaders and a top engineer. Yes, while returning to office I thought about the election results and became sad again. But I will finish the article about that company, and then write another article, holding on to the tech beat as long as my broken heart keeps beating. After all, AI is still the biggest story in town.