🔴 The AI honeymoon is over. For years, Silicon Valley promoted artificial intelligence as the next great leap forward: faster medicine, smarter businesses, better education and limitless productivity. But an increasingly skeptical public is asking a different question: Better for whom? According to a new Wall Street Journal report, the backlash has become so intense that some of the biggest names in AI are now increasing personal security after receiving threats and facing alarming real-world incidents. Some executives reportedly travel with bodyguards, limit public appearances and instruct employees to avoid drawing attention to themselves. The anger is being fueled by more than fear of the technology itself. Millions of Americans worry that AI will eliminate jobs, concentrate unprecedented power in a handful of corporations, erode privacy, consume enormous amounts of electricity and water through sprawling data centers and further blur the line between reality and manufactured information. Whether those fears ultimately prove justified remains to be seen, but they are no longer confined to academic debates or online message boards. They have entered politics, local communities and the public square. None of this excuses threats or violence. Disagreements over technology should never become personal attacks. But the industry's growing security concerns reflect a broader reality: public trust has eroded dramatically. Big Tech once assumed that every new innovation would be greeted with excitement. Instead, many Americans are demanding transparency, accountability and limits. The question is no longer whether AI will transform society. It already is. The real question is whether the companies driving that transformation can regain the confidence of a public that increasingly views them with suspicion rather than admiration. ▶ SUBSCRIBE to the LIONEL NATION Newsletter. https://bit.ly/4ouBt68 ◉ HOW TO SUPPORT LIONEL NATION =====================================