Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev warns that AI job loss fears could ignite a social upheaval if ordinary Americans continue to be left out.
In a new interview on the Full Send Podcast, Tenev says one of his biggest concerns is that AI lacks the kind of broad public ownership that helped crypto survive regulatory and political pushback.
According to Tenev, Big Tech could take a page or two from crypto’s playbook, an industry that shelled out funds and voted to help Trump win the US election against Kamala Harris.
“My biggest worry is that the people aren’t behind it. Whenever there’s like some regulatory overreach or something that’s like anti-crypto out there, either by the government or lawmakers, there’s like a huge retail army of crypto fans that are fighting against it. You could argue this last election, the 2024 presidential election, crypto became a massive constituency that actually swung lots of districts and votes in favor of the Trump administration.”
According to Tenev, the kind of retail backing and fire are missing in AI because ownership is concentrated among private companies and wealthy insiders.
“I think the reason crypto has this army is because from the very beginning, normal people could get access to crypto. Whereas AI, you’ve got companies that are private that are still only accessible to a relatively small circle of wealthy individuals that keep getting wealthier.”
Even when AI exposure is available in public markets, he says it often comes too late for everyday investors.
“You do have Google. It’s good that now Google’s being competitive. So if you’re a public market investor or retail shareholder, you can get access to it. But Google’s a $3 trillion company. So it’s not like you can get in early and actually ride that appreciation.”
Tenev warns that the imbalance could amplify public anxiety around AI, especially as fears about automation and job displacement grow.
“So my biggest fear is that you have all this fear about job loss. I think the best antidote is if you own this thing. It’s like if you own the thing that’s disrupting you, you’re kind of rooting for it a little bit.
The only people who are rooting for AI are the investors, venture capitalists, and the researchers who work there. And I think if that continues to be the case, it’s going to be the biggest problem, because what’s going to happen is there’s going to be public pressure, if we don’t do it right, it’s going to come out against AI. And then you get into like national security risk and all of those scenarios.”
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