Tech bull Dan Ives says Big Tech’s hubris is keeping him up at night, warning that the AI job disintermediation narrative poses a bigger threat than China.
The News
In a new interview with Anthony Pompliano, Ives says Big Tech has created a self-inflicted crisis when it started issuing warnings that AI will come after the jobs of white-collar workers.
“My biggest concern is that tech companies are tripping over their own shoelace, having the hubris, talking about job cuts like it’s not reading the room, saying that their technology is going to wipe out lawyers, different areas and financials for young people. You do that, and you just shot yourself in the foot.”
According to Ives, AI and Big Tech now have a huge PR problem that could ultimately derail the massive infrastructure buildout.
“You start that type of fear? Then all of a sudden, data centers don’t get built. You have politicians get more focused on the regulation of models. You start to go closer to Europe from a data privacy point. Meanwhile, China at that point is like a foot on the pedal. That’s the thing that, to me, I worry about the most — the self-created PR problem that a lot of Big Tech has done.
And I think that has to be course corrected. Otherwise, that’s the thing that I fear the most. Data centers don’t get built, then we’re in trouble.”
In September of last year, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei doubled down on his prediction that AI could wipe out half of entry-level, white-collar jobs in just five years.
What It Means for Workers
Ives is right to say that AI has a huge perception problem in the US. In March, an NBC News survey revealed that more Americans view Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) more favorably than AI, with AI sitting near the bottom of the public image rankings, just above Iran. Meanwhile, billionaire venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya said that 25 data center projects were cancelled in 2025, up from just six in 2024 and two in 2023 due to community pushback.
America is currently the undisputed leader in AI with its state-of-the-art chips and colossal capital pool. But China is not far behind with models that are neck and neck with American counterparts, fast-paced permitting and construction, a deep AI talent pool and massive expansion of reliable power generation.
Ives says the AI buildout is supposed to be the renaissance of American manufacturing. The construction of data centers and the expansion of the power grid are expected to create job opportunities in states and towns that have lost factories between 2000 and 2010, when China and other countries accelerated the offshoring of the American supply chain.
But because of Big Tech’s narrative that AI will wipe out people’s jobs, data center projects are getting canceled amid fears of higher electricity costs. Politicians like Senator Bernie Sanders are fanning the flames, saying that AI will only benefit billionaires while eliminating millions of jobs and creating mass unemployment.
The irony is that the former factory towns that stand to benefit the most from the AI buildout are the ones most likely to reject it. While data centers consume power, they create jobs for electricians, engineers, construction workers and grid operators. If Big Tech doesn’t fix its messaging problem, the AI renaissance Ives is describing won’t be stopped by regulation or competition. It’ll be stopped by the people it was supposed to elevate.
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