Tech CEO warns against Silicon Valley's consolidation of AI power
Patmos CEO John Johnson joins host Stuart Varney to discuss the centralization of technological power in the U.S. Johnson warns against Silicon Valley's consolidation of AI development and calls for decentralizing infrastructure.
Artificial intelligence could become a powerful economic engine for American communities, but a tech CEO warns that allowing a handful of companies to dominate the technology could lead to a much darker outcome.
Patmos CEO John Johnson joined Gxstocks' Stuart Varney on "Varney & Co." to discuss the race to develop artificial intelligence, concerns about centralized technological power and the infrastructure he says the U.S. needs to build to remain competitive.
The race to build AI infrastructure is accelerating as concerns grow over centralized technological power. (Noah Berger / Getty Images)
"I think if we can continue to compete on the infrastructure side, we're going to be OK against China. But the real problem is not China as much as it is a centralization of technological power in the United States," Johnson said.
Johnson argued that the U.S. should focus on expanding local AI infrastructure rather than allowing development to become increasingly concentrated among a small group of major technology companies.
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"Right now, we need infrastructure to be built as quickly as possible. All over the country and decentralize power from the Silicon Valley to where I'm sitting right now in the Silicon Prairie and everywhere in between," he said.
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Johnson said broader development could also allow more communities to benefit economically from the AI boom.
"The truth is AI can be a tremendous economic engine for communities if we're willing to build with them, not over them," Johnson said.
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His sharpest warning focused on AI systems' ability to imitate people. Johnson said the technology does not have a will of its own, but he argued its ability to mimic human behavior could still be dangerous.
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"What they can do really well, which is scary, is present a counterfeit of the human person. And I think that will be what these technocrats try to use to control the world, which is really what they want to do," Johnson said.
Johnson said Americans should resist a future in which people are expected to submit to increasingly powerful machines.
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"That's a proposition that Americans are just not going to accept," he said, adding that Americans should do everything in their power to resist it.
