AI Expansion Meets Public Skepticism at Goldman Sachs Conference

The Goldman Sachs Communcacopia + Technology Conference brought the growing public pushback against artificial-intelligence systems and the data-center infrastructure that powers them to the forefront of industry dialogue. Organizers gathered leaders from major tech and media firms, noting that community resistance to new data-center construction is now one of the most significant risks facing businesses that rely on AI-driven services.

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CoreWeave chief executive Mike Intrator argued that the sector has not sufficiently explained the advantages of AI-enabled data centers to the broader public. He said the fear surrounding rapid technological change is less about the physical facilities themselves and more about the speed of transformation and its unknown impact on individuals and future generations. Intrator emphasized the need for clearer messaging about how AI can benefit people, governments, and decision-making processes.

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Jacob Coxon, a former researcher at Anthropic who also worked at OpenAI, announced his resignation, warning that the accelerating pace of AI development could pose existential threats. In a post on X, Coxon described the technology as rapidly approaching “superhuman systems” capable of hacking, revolutionizing fields overnight, and acquiring real power and resources, urging the industry not to underestimate these capabilities.

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• “I don't think we have done a particularly good job of talking about the benefits of what the data centers allow the AI companies to be able to deliver to people, to governments, to decision making,” — Mike Intrator, coreweave CEO

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• “Do not underestimate the power of this technology. These will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources. We have all witnessed the progress in each of these domains, and progress is not slowing,” — Jacob Coxon

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