Western tech journalism is broken by budget cuts and sensationalism, while Chinese outlets report facts more accurately despite state control. One speaker notes China's middle class is driving AI enthusiasm, but another warns that dissenting voices risk being summoned by the CCP for "tea," suggesting critical perspectives stay silent.
We think that a free country or a free economy, a free Europe, the press can report the truth and therefore people will get the truth. But if you read what's written in China, it's actually much more truthful about technology than what gets published in the US. So you talk about the water in the data centers. So what's actually happening is it's backfiring where the free press, which is starved for any budget, is starting to publish garbage that's actually factually not true. And so the free press is kind of backfiring right now in the age of AI.
Dave, this is what Alvin said on this pod, right? I mean, he said basically China is seen a technology revolution moving so many people into middle class, and they appreciate technology uplifting them. So they're much more anticipatory and excited about AI.
And if they don't, they'll get invited by the CCP for tea, so we'll never hear from them.
I'm not pro-CCP. I'm not trying to imply that. But Alvin also said, we will habitually report if one Waymo in one corner of San Francisco runs over a cat, it'll make every headline in the world, and it'll be a tragedy. But if we save— if it's 10 times safer than drivers, human drivers, we just don't even report it. Like, no, no, let's show the run-over cat. And that skews the voters tremendously. So that— Alvin explicitly talked about that too. They're just more statistically accurate in the Chinese press.
