AI Reshapes the Economy and Roils Geopolitics, Even as GPT-5 Fizzles

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Big Tech’s spending on AI infrastructure, like data centers, is so enormous that it’s reshaping the U.S. economy on a scale likened to the building of the railroads. AI is also now at the center of geopolitical conflicts, as President Trump strikes a deal with Nvidia allowing it to sell its chips to China, upending longstanding national security policy. And yet, the much-hyped launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT-5 has left many users underwhelmed. We take stock of the way the AI industry is reshaping our world. Guests: Zoë Schiffer, oversees coverage of business and Silicon Valley at WIRED Mat Honan, editor in chief, MIT Technology Review Brian Merchant, tech journalist, writes the "Blood in the Machine" newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for Kikiweedy Podcasts comes from San Francisco Opera, accompanied sister Helen Prejean on a life-altering journey where her faith is put to the test.
0:08.4	This fall celebrate the homecoming of one of America's most important operas, Dead Man Walking, September 14th through the 28th.
0:15.2	Here's the truth about AI. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. ServiceNow puts AI to work for people across your business, removing friction and frustration for your employees, supercharging productivity for your developers, providing intelligent tools for your service agents to make customers happier. All built into a single platform you can use right now.
0:38.5	That's why the world works with ServiceNow.
0:41.7	Visit ServiceNow.com
0:43.0	slash UK slash AI for people.
0:46.3	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:03.0	Big tech spending on AI infrastructure, mostly massive data centers, is so enormous that it's
1:09.0	propping up the U.S. economy and warping local communities.
1:13.4	AI is also at the center of a strange deal. President Trump struck with Nvidia and AMD to allow
1:18.6	them to sell certain chips to China. And yet, the much-hyped launch of OpenAI's new model,
1:24.6	ChatGBTGP-T-, left many users underwhelmed.
1:28.9	Like it or not, the AI industry is reshaping our world, and we'll talk about how.
1:33.7	It's all coming up next, right after this news. Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal. The keyword here in the early part of our discussion is CAPEX. That is to say capital expenditures or the money that companies spend on long-term
2:02.7	productive assets. Right now, if you're a big tech company, your CAPEX spending is exploding
2:08.7	because you need or think you need to build massive data centers to train and run AI models.
2:16.1	In a single fiscal year, meta might spend $70 billion, Google, $85 billion, Microsoft
2:21.4	$100 billion, Amazon, $105 billion.
2:24.2	I mean, this is crazy money even by the technology industry standards, and it's warping
2:29.7	the dynamics of our economy and our world.
2:32.7	Joining us to discuss, we've got Zoe Schiffer, who oversees coverage of business and Silicon Valley at Wired. Welcome, Zoe. Thanks for having me. We got Matt Honan, editor-in-chief of MIT Technology Review. Welcome, Matt. Thanks for having me, too. Yeah. We got Brian Merchant, a tech journalist, writes the Blood in the Machine newsletter.
2:51.6	He's the author of the book Blood in the Machine, The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech.
	...

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