David Sacks accused Vitalik Buterin of funding anti-AI campaigns.

Venture capitalist David Sacks has criticized Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, accusing him and other billionaires of artificially fueling panic around artificial intelligence (AI).

Speaking on the All-In podcast , Sachs said the coordinated efforts and massive financial investments by proponents of the "effective altruism" movement are seriously damaging technological progress and creating a negative public opinion of data centers.

The focus has shifted to the so-called "AI existential risk industrial complex," a term popularized by researcher Nirit Weiss-Blatt. According to her analysis , hundreds of nonprofits and activist groups opposing AI are funded by a small group of individuals in Silicon Valley.

Sachs listed the names of the movement's main sponsors, including Dustin Moskovitz, Jaan Tallinn, and Vitalik Buterin. He believes their capital is behind large-scale information campaigns calling for severe restrictions or a complete halt to the development of advanced neural networks.

Source: All-In Podcast

Sachs was particularly outraged by the financial scale of this activity. Back in 2021, the Ethereum co-founder donated Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens to the Future of Life Institute (FLI), which were subsequently cashed out for approximately $500 million. These colossal funds, according to the investor, are now being used for political lobbying and to create artificial resistance at the local level, including to block the construction of new data centers needed for AI training.

You really can't underestimate how much of a difference these donations make, a billion dollars from these effective altruist billionaires has done colossal damage to the public perception of AI," the investor noted.

This interference raises serious questions about the transparency of the crypto industry elite's intentions. Interestingly, Buterin himself recently publicly criticized the Future of Life Institute for misusing its funds. He had expected the funds to be used for technical research into AI safety, but the organization shifted course to aggressive political advocacy, which he believes could lead to authoritarian consequences. Nevertheless, as Sachs argues, the panic machine that has been set in motion is already running at full speed, using biased analytics and orchestrated social media campaigns to create the illusion of mass discontent.