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Palantir CTO: AI Researchers Smoke, Betting AI Will Cure Cancer
Business Insider • • business
Key Points:
- Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar claimed some AI researchers are taking up smoking to signal their strong belief that AI will eventually cure cancer, using smoking as a metaphor for being "all in" on AI's potential.
- Sankar did not provide specific names or evidence for this trend, and smoking remains a major health risk with no AI breakthroughs yet mitigating these dangers.
- This phenomenon reflects a small subset of tech professionals who embrace smoking as a social or cultural statement, contrasting with the industry's broader focus on health optimization techniques like cold plunges and sleep tracking.
- Some AI proponents, like Avi Schiffmann, express confidence that future AI advancements will eliminate smoking-related health risks, envisioning AI curing diseases like lung cancer.
- Sankar also criticized Silicon Valley's "mass psychosis" around AI, accusing some advocates of treating artificial general intelligence (AGI) with quasi-religious reverence, calling it the "machine god of AGI."
