Eight years ago, the results of the November US election deeply shocked the small staff at Backchannel, the boutique tech publication I headed. The morning after, an editor posted on our Slack that working on tech history seemed tone-deaf, if not futile. On the plane from New York to San Francisco, I wrote a column to respond to this impulse, directed both at myself and my colleagues and at readers. I argued that despite the grandeur of this event, one thing had not changed; the greatest story of our time was still the technological revolution we have lived through. Disruptive politicians, even destructive ones, can come and go or refuse to go. But the chip, the web, the mobile device and everything related to them have changed humanity and perhaps what it will mean to be human. It was our job to record this epic transformation, no matter who was politically at the helm. The title of my column was “The iPhone Is Bigger Than Donald Trump.”
This week, Trump was re-elected president despite…oh hell, I won’t go through the litany of what would appear to be disqualifiers. You’ve heard it all, and for the majority of voters, it doesn’t matter. It’s an amazing story and the next few years will undoubtedly go down in history. Maybe not in a good way. Perhaps in a very bad way for a country where many expected to celebrate its continuing values on America’s 250th birthday. (In the spirit of unity, I’ll use the qualifier “maybe” since losers should be humble and who knows what’s to come.)
Of course, journalists must vigorously cover Trump’s second presidency, with relentless demands for accountability. In the short term — for some of us cheaters, it could be all the time left! — what happens in our community and country will have a bigger impact on our daily lives than the latest version of Claude, ChatGPT or even Apple Intelligence. (Sorry, Tim Apple.) If you lose your health care or your reproductive rights, or end up in a deportation camp or prison cell because of the policies of our returning president, the knowledge that AI, mixed reality, and quantum computing may one day redefine it will not reduce the pain.
Also, those of us who cover technology will definitely be done covering the Trump presidency; politics, as always, influences the course of technology. (Remember, the U.S. government created this thing called the Internet.) A debate is currently raging about how or whether we should regulate or limit AI, a technology that some call “the latest invention.” I’m already hearing talk of the new administration rolling back the complex executive order on AI that Joe Biden issued. Some worry that the mega-advisor to incoming president Elon Musk, who has his own AI company and is building AI into his other businesses, such as Tesla and Neuralink, will have enormous and possibly inappropriate influence on government policies and contracts. I’ve also heard speculation that the movement to regulate AI may be, ahem, overwhelmed by the threat of China’s all-out effort in this area. This is important because the ground rules of today’s AI and the quirks of its inventors may affect whether the worst fears about the technology come true.
That’s why, the day after Donald Trump’s re-election, I visited an artificial intelligence company and interviewed one of its leaders and a top engineer. Yes, on the way back to the office I thought about the election results and got depressed again. But I will finish the article about this company and then write another one, sticking to the tech beat while my broken heart continues to beat. After all, AI is still the biggest story in town.
