AI optimism collides with public fear

Silicon Valley confidence and Washington anxiety clashed at Axios' AI+DC Summit.  The AI industry says this technology will create new jobs, boost productivity and transform daily life for the better. But Americans are worried about their kids, their power bills and their livelihoods. The summit revealed wildly different opinions from industry leaders and lawmakers from the left and the right. Meta president Dina Powell McCormick framed AI as a "transformation of humanity." Sen Mark Warner (D-VA) pointed to recent data showing that AI was more unpopular with Americans than ICE, but also said a moratorium on new data centers—like the one proposed by Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT)—was "idiocy."