The 'AI Coachella' prof wants to take back the data centers

Study

And play Come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get [explosion] the best Of both worlds Get the unreal college deal, everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more at windows.com/studentoffer. While supplies last. Ends June 30th. Terms at aka.ms/collegepc.

[gentle music] When you need to build up your team to handle the growing chaos at work, use Indeed Sponsored Jobs. It gives your job post the boost it needs to be seen and helps reach people with the right skills, certifications, and more. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. That's indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.

[gentle music] So if you're like Elon and you've got 500,000 GB300s in Memphis, and then you've got diesel generators that are really loud and, and annoying to the locals, and they're saying like, "Hey, we get it. You wrote us a check, but that's not enough. Like, I'm starting to get a headache," pay attention.

Humans are raging against the machine. In this case, data centers cropping up in their backyards.

Listen, these are human beings. They will fuck shit up for you if you do not come across as an empathetic human being and listen to them.

How should we scale AI responsibly, and what should it even be used for?

Today's guest, Anjané Mehta, has some ideas. He's an investor, founder, and viral Stanford lecturer. He's also one of the loudest voices arguing that the AI industry needs more cooperation, more compute, and a lot less zero-sum thinking.

Look, to each their own, guys, but Ellis, I think you may wanna hold back your Bay Area critique a little bit more. [laughs]

[laughs] I think he got you there, Ellis.

Fair enough, fair enough.

I'm Alex Heath, here with my co-host, Ellis Hamburger.

Welcome to Access. [gentle music]

Anj, welcome. We've gotten through our technical difficulties. It's good to see you. You're fresh off of your class today, are you not?

Yeah, it, it was good. It was Gary Tan and Diana Hu from Y Combinator, and, uh, they are amazing. But the kids, uh... the kids were aggressive. These kids, these Stanford kids are really aggressive these days, you know?

What do you mean?

Um, I'm, I'm still processing, so don't quote me on this, but I- generally, I feel like, you know, they don't really understand what an institution Y Combinator is in Silicon V- like, how much YC has done for Silicon Valley, for the institution of venture capital, for founders. Like, culturally, you know, when I grow up-- I, I introduced, uh, to Gary and Diana today in the context of when I was an undergrad, you know, uh, 12, 13 years ago. As a sophomore, I had the-- I was lucky enough to take Peter Thiel's first, um, sort of Zero to One class. It was called CS183B, How to Start a Startup. And that, you know, one of the students was Blake Masters in the class, and Blake turned it in--