Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Pulitzer-Winning Journalist: This is Why Big Tech is Betting $300 Billion on AI
Jul 28, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Rivlin shares insights about Big Tech's unchecked power. He highlights the evolving role of AI as a political force and delves into the consequences of surveillance, misinformation, and election interference. Rivlin addresses venture capital's impact on the tech landscape and the urgent need for transparent regulations to ensure ethical responsibility. His analysis offers a compelling look at how AI could either democratize opportunities or exacerbate inequality, especially within the realms of journalism and healthcare.
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Episode notes
Blooming Optimism With Guardrails
- AI offers vast societal potential in medicine, education, and science, but public trust lags behind technological progress.
- Rivlin calls for deliberate deployment and human oversight to avoid early catastrophic failures.
Capital And Data Concentrate AI Power
- Training and operating top AI models now costs hundreds of millions to billions, concentrating power with deep-pocketed firms.
- Rivlin warns that only firms with enormous capital and data access can sustain cutting-edge AI long-term.
AI Needs Broader Voices
- Silicon Valley's default of small, homogeneous teams won't suffice for AI's societal implications.
- Rivlin urges broader disciplinary and demographic participation to build trustworthy systems.
