00:00Let's just start the conversation with the kind of work you're doing and what we need to know this
00:03morning. Good morning. Good morning. So Raise Us is the new organization that I am leading.
00:11And our mission is very simple. You know, we want the U.S. to lead the global AI competition,
00:18but to have a strategy so that every American worker gets brought along. And right now we're
00:24not headed down that path. And it's something I'm deeply worried about. We have extremely
00:29outdated infrastructure, social insurance, support for workers, incentives for companies
00:36to retrain and redeploy instead of just laying people off. And so I think it's time that we get
00:44to work. We're working with governors of both parties. This is a nonpartisan, nonpolitical effort
00:49with companies and just trying to find some creative, innovative solutions. Because I will
00:55tell you one of my greatest worries is even if America has the best chips, the best models,
01:02the most data centers, but doesn't have an intentional plan to manage this transition
01:08and falls into a period of very high unemployment, we will lose the AI race because that will be too
01:15destabilizing. What's your reaction, though, to what New York Governor Kathy Hochul is doing in terms
01:20of the moratorium? Because this potentially can slow down how quickly the U.S. can advance
01:25in the AI space.
01:28Right. So I think this is a perfect example of what we're trying to do, which is to say Americans
01:34are worried, right? They're worried. But when the average American hears AI, what they hear is,
01:41I'm going to lose my job. My electricity prices are going up. My kids won't have a job. I've just
01:46spent money for college. Those are real, legitimate, valid anxieties. And we have to find solutions to
01:56address them. So while I don't think, like no one is happier than the president of China that we are
02:03slowing down data center construction. That being said, it's not okay if people's electricity bills
02:13are going up or people's water bills are going up or people's economic security is going down
02:20because of, you know, AI companies. So we must find a way to do both, steam ahead with data centers
02:28and technology and make sure, you know, these companies pay their fair share so other folks'
02:34electricity bills don't go up and people have, frankly, a job, a meaningful job in an AI economy.
02:40You recently wrote an opinion piece where you said what we need is a new grand bargain between
02:44the public and private sectors. When it comes to AI, what do you make of the Trump administration
02:48looking at taking equity stakes, another version of industrial policy that some of which started
02:56under the Biden administration? Yes. So listen, I do think it is a good idea for the American people
03:04and the American government to share in the extreme profit and commercial benefit of AI.
03:15That being said, I personally have always been a bit of a critic on the government taking big equity
03:23shares of companies. You know, I'm still a believer in capitalism, however many flaws it has right now
03:31in the way it's playing out in America. And I just, you know, the government owning the means
03:37of production is, you know, the definition of socialism. I think it creates a lot of potential
03:43for corruption. So I think the intention is a good intention. Personally, I just get very nervous
03:52if we're stepping down a path of like a state-owned enterprise, et cetera. So I'd like to find another
03:58way. How do you balance the idea of trying to create some sort of pact with the U.S. worker,
04:05with the U.S. average citizen, while also maintaining a U.S. edge versus China, right? I mean,
04:11do you want to sort of create this sense that there is isolation between the two stacks? I just wonder
04:17what the ultimate goal is, what the approach you're hearing from some of the folks you're speaking with?
04:23You know, I think if you talk to the tech companies in AI, many of whom are partners
04:28with us and raise us, they feel that they're in a global arms race to, you know, get ahead of
04:35each
04:35other and also get ahead of China and other technologies. And I understand that. But I will say
04:43this. If we as a nation put our blinders on and if every company just moves forward at pace to
04:54implement
04:54AI, to increase profits without a people strategy, and if we wake up in a couple of years with millions
05:05Americans or tens of millions of Americans put out of work because of AI, we will lose the global AI
05:12race because
05:13there will be massive regulatory backlash. It will be massively destabilizing to our economy. It'll be
05:21recessionary. It'll be massively destabilizing for our politics. So what I'm trying to say to business leaders, to
05:29governors, to Congress, to everyone in America is let's get together and find solutions. Let us be
05:35intentional about how we transition to an AI economy, because quite frankly, every American deserves to
05:42see themselves productive and having a good job in that economy. And until we convince the people of
05:49America that there's a good future for them in an AI economy, you're going to continue to see what you
05:55what you just asked me about, moratoriums on data centers, other kinds of uprising. And that's bad for
06:02America. That's bad for everyone in America. No doubt.
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