is the Verge’s weekend editor. He has over 18 years of experience, including 10 years as managing editor at Engadget.
David Sacks, the White House’s AI and crypto czar, has warned that a continued war in Iran could be catastrophic. On the All In podcast, Sacks said that “we should try to find the off-ramp.” He expressed concern that Iran could demolish oil and gas infrastructure across the Middle East, but more alarmingly, that it could start targeting desalination plants, which provide water to much of the region, and could lead to an even larger humanitarian crisis.
Sacks has never made humanitarian efforts a cornerstone of his public persona, however. But he has a well-documented anti-interventionist streak, and even claimed on stage at the RNC that America “provoked” Russia into invading Ukraine.
Despite his service in the Trump administration, Sacks has remained involved in the private sector and has a financial interest in getting out, since, according to him, that is “what the markets would like to see.”
The war also specifically threatens the AI industry, which Sacks oversees at the White House. Iranian drone strikes forced QatarEnergy to shut down production of liquefied natural gas and helium. According to Bloomberg, the company is responsible for one-third of the world’s helium supply, which is critical for Electronics and semiconductor manufacturing. Economist Andreas Steno Larsen, told Yahoo!Finance that “This could potentially turn into a bottleneck for the entire AI story.”
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