AI Has Driven Researchers to Absurd Lengths: Some Have Started Smoking to Prove Their Faith in Artificial Intelligence

People working in the artificial intelligence industry have reportedly taken up smoking to demonstrate just how strongly they believe AI will be able to save humanity from any threat — including the consequences of unhealthy habits. Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar described the phenomenon as “mass psychosis” and a “collective delusion.”

In a recent interview with CBS, Sankar said some AI researchers were using cigarettes as a kind of symbol of their faith in the technology.

“So many AI researchers have started smoking to show other AI researchers how much they believe in AI,” he said. The journalist responded by pointing out that the behavior made little sense.

Sankar explained the thinking behind it as a belief that AI would eventually be capable of solving even humanity’s most difficult problems.

“I believe so much in AI being able to cure cancer that I’m putting all my chips on it,” he said, describing the supposed reasoning behind the trend. He compared this attitude to “mass psychosis” and a “social delusion.”

According to the executive, people have a kind of “God-shaped hole” within them, and in Silicon Valley, artificial intelligence is increasingly filling that void.

His comments come amid fierce debate over the future of the technology. Last month, Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon resigned, warning that the development of AI could lead to the extinction of humanity.

“There is a substantial chance that this technology could kill everyone,” he told NBC News, stressing that he was neither exaggerating nor using a publicity stunt to make his point.