Eric Schmidt: we aren’t going to pause AI progress | The Economist
Why now
Thesis: Schmidt argues AI pause impossible, reinforcing compute spending expectations
Catalyst to watch: Further AI capex guidance from major firms
Main risk: Sentiment shift against AI infrastructure spending
Why it matters
A prominent ex-Google executive arguing an AI pause is impossible reinforces expectations of sustained compute and infrastructure spending.
Details
"We’re not going to do a pause." Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, tells our editor-in-chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes, why the incentives make an AI pause impossible, and what America and China should agree to instead.
Sources
- youtube · 2026-09-19 10:00 UTC