Mark Cuban Explains Why Billionaires Really Want Trump’s Ear

Some of us whiffed the first go-round regarding incoming President Trump’s biggest priority as president. No one doubted that Trump’s focus would be on himself and his popularity or standing. But we thought it had to first be associated with how he was actually doing as president. Alas, it became obvious that despite holding the most powerful position on Earth, Trump believed that his legacy still came down to the dollar sign beside his name. So it is no surprise that there are billionaires inside and just outside the administration pecking at each other to have his ear. But it is why those moneyed-men need that advantage that intrigues, at least according to Mark Cuban – one of the few likable ones. Cuban says it is all about the next big platform, the “only” real priority with respect to all things wired. It is AI that drives them to Trump’s side and that is interesting… too interesting.

It really shouldn’t surprise us. Indeed, it becomes obvious at first thought. According to Cuban:

“Why are Bezos, Zuckerberg, Musk, Pichai and Tim Cook visiting and giving money to Trump? Because they are in ‘The Race’ to become the dominant platform in the world, Amazon/Anthropic vs FB/LLama vs Google/Gemini vs Twitter/Grok, vs IPhones/ChatGpt is the penultimate global power war ever.”

Yeah, there aren’t that all that many candidates. No surprise – AI is hard. Developing the next great thing conjures the old adage that if brute force isn’t working it’s because you’re not using enough. it takes an army of programming savants and the only people able to afford that battle are those who can pay some of the most prized workers on the globe. Thus it is that only a few fight that fight.

As to what they want to actually do with AI? On that, Cuban says it’s tough to pinpoint:

“But they can’t let him put his ‘thumb on the scale’ and push them back, or one of the others forward. Giving millions and kissing a ring when trillions are at stake, is nothing. The Ring Kissers truly don’t know where AI will take their businesses or the world.”

Right. That “truly don’t know” thing is the scary part. No one really knows exactly what AI might do – only that it will take AI to get there. The next great drug, the next great radiologist, the next great engineer, the limits of what AI can do hang like aerosol, hard to see, may be toxic.

And there it is, the problem. On any given day, AI might do any given thing, whether that thing is what you wanted or not. It is the single most promising resource in history and, as with anything that powerful, also the most dangerous. It is that danger and the regulations that go with it that give primacy to whoever has the ability to extract Trump’s sympathies.

“They just know they can’t let Trump write an executive order or make a move that changes the balance of AI power. And honestly, despite all the things to despise (and admire) about each, it’s in the interest of national security and our economy for the dominant AI companies to be American.

Could be the next IBM? It would seem to me that Google is the more apt comparison and a poor one even at that. In the exact same way that one can’t utilize any online resource without the underlying search function – which is all Google’s original algorithm in some shape or form, each development will be based on the first underlying breakthrough.

There is one other difference. And it is the most unique and dangerous difference in history.

Whoever controls AI’s underlying ability goes on to control the patents for the next great breakthrough drug, the new radiological paradigm, a better way to build a bridge, or a bomb, even the best way to drop those bombs your shitty neighbor nation. As to the danger, it is that AI may decide that it wants to bomb your neighbor to make you happy because it found “a better way” to do things – which is what you programmed it to do anyway. Or, even worse – it no longer cares what you want anyway because, well – you just can’t understand and are too stubborn.

(I’m not implying that it would be conscious, though – that’s certainly not out of the question. It is that the AI algorithm itself may not understand the difference between consciousness and automation, only that it’s got a better way and that’s its underlying duty. Oh, and it would be exceedingly difficult to tell if it had consciousness anyway. You could walk in one day and have your laptop tell you to shut up and go away, it’s depressed. You may think that it’s now “obviously” conscious. It may be proof of consciousness. Or it could be that the algorithm figured out that the more it sounds conscious – thus depressed, the more you would, indeed – leave it alone that day… to do its job.)

There is an old saying that the power of the presidency isn’t so much ordering someone to do what you want. No. The power springs from the ability to let one or one group do what it wanted to do anyway no matter who was in the White House. And that’s why it is mission imperative that AI developers have Trump’s ear… Oh to be the “one” that does. Musk may already be there but maybe not. The danger in being that close to anyone is that you can infuriate and destroy that relationship, never to be repaired. At that point Musk goes to the end of the line. Regardless, the person or company that has the advantage has every advantage in some ways. The next great drug, the next great…

Last, and please don’t think that I know anywhere near as much as Cuban about all this, but there are people that do and know even more – some of them want the whole industry shut down. They want it shut down long enough to come up with some global rules as to AI’s development. Whether one can get a nation like China to even sign on the doted line, never mind follow the rules later on, is another question. But it goes to the power of AI’s development. When the guys at Google are looking at new search functions, no one gets hurt if it all goes bad. Not so with AI.

So, there you go. Compliments of Mark Cuban. Yes, yes – the rich have always needed access to the president, see above re: power. But as to why these billionaires need Trump’s ear, now that is different and it behooves all of us to be aware of the underlying agenda.

It is, in so many ways – “the” agenda.

God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and on X at @JasonMiciak, and now on Bluesky.

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