During a recent appearance on The Pivot Podcast, entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuka delivered his take on AI bias.
When discussing societal fears about new technology, Vaynerchuk brought up a concern that dominated early AI conversations.
He said: “That was the first thing 18 months ago. We better be scared of AI because all the white dudes from San Francisco, ironically, we’re here are gonna write it and it’s gonna be bad for, you know, minorities and women. Okay, next.”
To illustrate his point, he drew a historical parallel that required him to visit the New York Public Library to research old newspaper archives about electricity.
“People were scared,” he explained. “Listen, we now know it. Could you imagine being around when electric, like everything was candle? People thought there were demons in it. People would not put electricity in their homes because they thought there were demons in it. Humans are scared of change in a real way.”
The entrepreneur emphasized that every major technological advancement has been met with similar resistance and apocalyptic predictions. “It’s all the same, man,” he noted, referencing how the internet was once dismissed as a fad and social media was initially considered frivolous.
Addressing the specific concern about job displacement through AI, Vaynerchuk acknowledged the elephant in the room: “Do you know why everyone hates AI, right? Everyone’s scared to lose their job.”
But he immediately countered with another historical example: “By the way, electricity changed everyone’s job.”
His optimism about AI extends beyond mere technological enthusiasm. Vaynerchuk made a compelling comparison to perhaps humanity’s most dangerous invention: “Are you familiar that there’s something called the atomic bo mb? Are you familiar that it’s been around for 70 years? I just believe in humanity, bro. Real talk. I believe in the human spirit. Straight up.”
When pressed by the hosts to clarify his perspective on balancing potential dangers with human resilience, Vaynerchuk delivered what the hosts called “a bar.”
He said, “Humans have shown we do the right things in the net. In the macro, we’re the best. In the micro, we pay attention to the 0.1% of the worst.”
He used the example of a knife to illustrate this point. “In the micro, a knife is bad. Yeah. Let’s talk about the knife. We should ban them. Someone stabbed someone yesterday. In the macro,” he emphasized, society benefits tremendously from the tool despite isolated misuse.
While he acknowledges that systemic issues exist in society, including potential biases in AI development, he refuses to let fear dictate the conversation. “When you start with fear, it’s a wrap,” he stated firmly. “The world’s all up because fear is on offense.”
Perhaps most tellingly, Vaynerchuk expressed genuine excitement about AI’s potential applications, particularly in medicine.
“Everyone who’s scared about AI and mad about the work stuff, when they realize AI is going to save your mom’s life, wait till people realize what AI is going to do to medicine. Yeah, you might lose a job. You’ll get another one. But when your daughter lives because of AI medicine and she wouldn’t have without it, I think you’re going to have a different take on AI.”
Vaynerchuk advocates for approaching new technology with what he calls “maybe yes” rather than starting from a position of “no.”
