Palantir Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Shyam Sankar, during a recent interview, claimed that some researchers in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) have taken up smoking to prove their trust in the tech. He said that the researchers did so as they are confident that AI will cure cancer.
During his interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation”, the Mumbai-born CTO cited the example while talking about “mass psychosis”. He said, “So many researchers have started smoking as a way of signaling to other researchers how much they believe in AI.”
“I’m showing you my chips are all in. So there is kind of this mass psychosis, social delusion around it,” he added.
His remark created a chatter on social media, with some questioning the reality behind his statement. In response to one such tweet on X, Sankar shared a tweet from Vlad Tenev, the CEO of Robinhood, a US-based financial technology services company.
In his tweet, Tenev wrote, “Hearing more and more AI researchers are taking up smoking … superintelligence is near.”
{{/usCountry}}In his tweet, Tenev wrote, “Hearing more and more AI researchers are taking up smoking … superintelligence is near.”
{{/usCountry}}Last month, Business Insider reported that some startup founders have taken up smoking as a way of networking. One founder, Avi Schiffmann, cited an essay by a popular writer in the AI crowd and said, “By the time you do get lung cancer, our AI robots are supposed to have cured that.”