An 82-year-old Kentucky resident recently declined a $26 million offer from an AI firm seeking to build a data center on her property. While the company may still pursue rezoning 2,000 acres nearby, the increasing expansion of AI infrastructure into physical spaces is beginning to face significant real-world resistance.
This dynamic tension is evident throughout the week’s tech news, from OpenAI discontinuing its Sora app to judicial systems finally holding social media platforms accountable. In this installment of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane delve into what occurs when the high expectations of the AI hype cycle collide with practical realities.
Tune into the complete episode to discover more about:
- Why the competing CEOs of prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket are jointly investing in a $35M VC fund
- How drone innovators like Zipline, Lucid Bots, and Brinc are achieving tangible success where other robotics ventures have struggled
- What Kleiner Perkins’ substantial $3.5B capital raise reveals about the direction the largest VC firms foresee for the next wave of AI innovation
- Why two separate court judgments against Meta in the same week could represent a pivotal “tobacco moment” for the social media industry
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