When I Went around In 2017, talking to tech gods for a Silicon Valley magazine piece, trying to figure out whether AI would be friend or foe, Washington barely appeared on their radar.
As far as they were concerned, That It was the capital of the nation. In DC, the police simply passed the laws. In Silicon Valley, taxis were creating a new species, trying to eradicate the non-human emotional mind. Forget Henry Adams; It was Mary Shelley stuff. Some tech titans were upbeat about the future. Some were cautious. Elon Musk warns that we may be “summoning the devil.”
Silicon Valley was run by a bunch of toy guys. Brilliant, quirky young engineers trying to get more toys than others, better rockets or self-driving cars or robots. They were building a monopoly on the attention of Americans, learning how to set up algorithms to print and spread division, mistrust and jealousy, people. Establishing a connection We are improving our lives.
Within their own elite circle, the tech billionaires were volatile — sometimes friendly, sometimes feuding, sometimes, in the case of Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, threatening cage matches, sometimes, in the case of Musk, their own. They used to sell houses and sleep over friends’. Sophie was the richest, most powerful man in the world, with a high school vibe. He was the most beautiful, strangest mathematician in history.
Finally, Degrati looks east and discovers an exciting new toy with which to fight: the President of the United States. Suddenly, Democratic Silicon Valley is Trump country. The moment crystallized when Zuckerberg — fed up with correspondence from Democrats in 2016 about his company’s failure to stop disinformation — bought a yacht, wore a gold necklace and exchanged streetwear, He declared that Donald Trump’s assassination attempt was “one of the worst-ass things I’ve ever seen in my life,” and ended up fact-checking in the meta.
Wow, the tech mogul thought: It might be cool, not only to control all communications and connect all emotions in the country, but to reprogram the regulatory engine of government so that It works as we want! Throw in a few million people for Trump’s campaign and inauguration, throw some flattery on the insatiable maw of Trump’s ego, and suddenly you were at his elbow on stage when he returned to power.
Trump is a 78-year-old Luddite with a beautiful young woman named “Human Printer” who has a petite printer behind him. She creates positive stories to show it and takes dictation for her social media posts. He still prefers a Sharpie to a keyboard.
Yet suddenly he’s the savior of tectonic teens and crypto bros. King Donald’s court is filled with cloud lords, courtiers who bring their own chaos and drama to Trump’s orbit. At the inauguration, tech tycoons edged out most of the political class in terms of seating – sitting on par with the former president.
It’s a remarkable spectacle watching an entirely new power center flock to Washington, jockey for Trump’s attention, jockey to prove their loyalty, throw money at him, throw money at him after encomiums to Trump. Shouting for eight-figure mansions around.
As Openai Chief Sam Altman Insolent Last week on X: “Watching @POTUS more carefully recently has really changed my perspective on him,” adding, “I won’t agree with him on everything, but I think he will be incredible for the country in so many ways.”
Trump, who always wanted the elite to love her, lined up the crème de la tech to kiss her ring. If they see him as a new toy to compete with, he sees them that way.
The returning president wasted no time in putting the cat in the pigeons when he held a news conference on Tuesday to announce a joint venture between OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle called “Stargate.” Computing infrastructure for AI is said to generate around $100 billion. billion by the end of Trump’s tenure
Trump, in his new image as a champion of Silicon Valley in a bid to defeat China on AI, showcased Altman in the White House, even though he knows Altman and Kasturi, who co-founded Openei. Alvin accuses his ex-pal, Sam, of abandoning his original mission when he changed his nonprofit status to for-profit. Altman’s allies believe that Kasturi is just jealous that the young, ragtag crew blew up the temp office a few years after the young, ragtag manned the office, eventually making Chet GPT. .
Musk went bananas (or more bananas) on X, Announcement that the Troika did not have the money for such a move. Altman stepped back, says Musk was wrong, and Musk escalated the feud by posting old Altman tweets criticizing Trump.
It was an eye-opening crack at the Donald/Alvin bromance, which is being closely watched now that Trump has given Kasht the power to roam the West Wing, where he works out of an office on the second floor, and Taking the hatchet. To the government.
Anger. Trump’s allies told Politico that mature musk overcame his skis, discrediting the plan that Trump had just called “tremendous” and “monumental.”
Does Trump think teasing Musk’s nemesis is a good way to put Elon in his place and remind people? There is only one star Trump show?
Asked by reporters about insulting Musk, Trump was nonchalant. He knows from digital insults.
The president dismissed this as a personality clash, saying that Kasturi “hates one of the people,” allowing, “I also have a certain hatred of people.”
The clashing egos of Silicon Valley have joined the clashing egos on the Potomac, but the president isn’t worried. Getting mixed up, stirring up controversy for its own sake, is what Donald Trump enjoys.
