Palantir CTO says some AI researchers are taking up smoking because they expect AI to cure cancer

What happened: Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar said on CBS News' "Face the Nation" that some AI researchers have taken up smoking to signal their belief that AI will cure cancer. He did not name researchers or provide evidence. Why it matters: Sankar used the anecdote to criticize what he called Silicon Valley's "mass psychosis" and "social delusion" around AI, saying some there treat AGI as a "machine god.

Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar said on CBS News' "Face the Nation" that some AI researchers have taken up smoking to signal their belief that AI will cure cancer. He did not name researchers or provide evidence.

Sankar used the anecdote to criticize what he called Silicon Valley's "mass psychosis" and "social delusion" around AI, saying some there treat AGI as a "machine god.