On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher criticized AI but acknowledged that China isn’t slowing down its data center building.
Maher said, “It’s not popular, building the data centers is really one of the few things that unites red and blue America. People don’t like it, they don’t want it, they didn’t ask for it, they don’t think they need it, and I think they’re getting tired of what I was saying, originally. I do not like what an asskisser that f*cking thing is. I don’t want it talking to me — I tried to program it, I said you have to sound like a robot, because you are a f*cking robot. Don’t talk to me like a human, because you’re not.”
CNBC co-host Sara Eisen then said, “But here’s the thing Bill: We’ve — throughout history, there have always been fears around major technological changes, the Internet, the automobile, the nuclear weapon. I know this is different. But we do not want to — not be on the side of progress, and we do not want to let China get ahead of us on this dangerous technology. We want to own it, and we want our best people doing it. And so, I do think it’s a little dangerous that it’s become so unpopular, and now there are lots of moratoriums on data centers. We have to build data centers in this country, because you know what? They’re not slowing down in China.”
Maher responded, “Yeah.” He also agreed with Eisen on supporting progress.
Earlier, Maher said that he does have fears about the AI revolution.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

