Palantir CTO Says AI Researchers Are Smoking to Prove They Believe AI Will Cure Cancer

AI leaders make bold health claims

Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar said on CBS News that many AI researchers have started smoking cigarettes to show how much they believe in artificial intelligence. He claimed they use the habit as a way to signal confidence that AI will eventually cure cancer.

Sankar made the remark during an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday. He said, "So many AI researchers have started smoking as a way of signaling to other researchers how much they believe in AI. I believe so much in AI that it's going to cure cancer. So I'm showing you my chips are all in."

Key points

• Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar claimed AI researchers are smoking to signal faith in AI curing cancer
• Sankar did not name specific researchers or provide any data to support the claim
• The CDC says smoking causes about one in three U.S. cancer deaths
• Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei previously said promising AI will cure cancer has become a cliché

What Sankar also said

During the same segment, Sankar criticized the effective altruism movement, calling it a "doomsday cult." He pointed to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried as the most well-known figure associated with the movement. He also referenced philosopher Blaise Pascal's idea of a "god-shaped hole" in human hearts, suggesting some AI researchers fill it with belief in AGI, or artificial general intelligence.

Health facts vs. the claim

The claim comes despite well-established medical data. The CDC says cigarette smoke contains at least 69 chemicals known to cause cancer. Smokers face about 25 times the lung cancer risk of non-smokers. Quitting smoking lowers the risk of 12 types of cancer, and the added lung cancer risk drops by half 10 to 15 years after stopping.

Trust in AI remains thin

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in August that promising AI will cure cancer has become "more a cliché than it is inspiring." He added that only actually curing cancer would earn public trust in AI.

A CBS poll cited during the interview found that 50% of Americans said AI will create more problems than it solves, indicating public skepticism remains high.

What is confirmed

Sankar made these remarks on CBS News. He did not provide names, surveys, or data to back up the claim about researchers smoking. The CDC statistics on smoking and cancer are established public health data.

What is still unclear

It is unknown whether any AI researchers have actually taken up smoking for this reason. Sankar provided no evidence, and no other source has confirmed the claim.

Why this matters

The story highlights the gap between AI industry optimism and public trust. While some tech leaders make bold predictions about AI solving major health challenges, Americans remain skeptical. At the same time, making lighthearted jokes about smoking may come across as tone-deaf given the well-known health risks.

Sources

• Decrypt