Case of 'mass psychosis': AI researchers are smoking because they are sure AGI can cure cancer

Some AI researchers are such firm believers in the power of the technology that they have taken up smoking. As bizarre as it might sound, this is a claim made by Palantir chief technology officer Shyam Sankar. He said that "mass psychosis" has gripped the Silicon Valley where companies are racing to create artificial general intelligence, or AGI, a machine as intelligent as, or even more than humans.

His claim is based on the supposed belief that AI will become so strong that it will one day find a cure for cancer. Speaking to CBS News in an interview, Sankar said, "So many researchers have started smoking as a way of signaling to other researchers how much they believe in AI."
He said the belief is linked to the "social delusion" around AI.

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“I’m showing you my chips are all in. So there is kind of this mass psychosis, social delusion around it,” he said, without providing any evidence to back his claim.

Nicotine products being put inside offices

It isn't clear how many AI researchers have actually taken up smoking cigarettes just to prove the amount of faith they have in the technology. However, according to a report by Fortune, nicotine products have made a comeback in offices. Palantir itself has vending machines in its Washington DC office stocked with free nicotine pouches.

Smoking has reportedly made a return among some startups, especially as a way to network. Business Insider reported that healthmaxxing is no longer on the agenda of Silicon Valley and more researchers are now smoking. "By the time you do get lung cancer, our AI robots are supposed to have cured that," Avi Schiffmann, the CEO of AI wearable startup Friend, told the outlet.

"God-Shaped Hole" and AI safety

Sankar implied smoking is a symptom of the "social delusion" that he says has taken over concerns around AI safety. "Many of these folks in Silicon Valley who are building this technology have filled that hole with the machine god of AGI,” he said, referring to the "God-shaped hole" idea. Hypothesised by 17th-century French mathematician Blaise Pascal, "God-Shaped Hole" is a concept that suggests humans have a natural drive for higher purpose, meaning, or spiritual fulfillment.

He pointed out that these researchers are out of touch with reality, as they fear about existential threat posed by AI in the future, while still choosing to smoke despite being aware that the habit comes with major health risks.