By Gary Marcus
Publication Date: 2026-01-06 02:54:00
Quick links to some articles I published elsewhere this week:
First, in Politico’s annual Black Swan feature, which explores unlikely scenarios that could still come true, 15 scenarios that could stun the world in 2026:
bBy the end of 2026, President Trump will have begun to distance himself from the aggressively pro-AI industrial policies that characterized his AI strategy in 2025. The massive AI infrastructure projects (like Project Stargate) that he championed after his inauguration will seem like an unprofitable and underutilized mistake. This also applies to its complete failure to meaningfully regulate AI, against the will of voters and political leaders on both the left and the right. …Generative AI, once the golden child of Silicon Valley, will look like a fad, a solution in search of a problem where the economics don’t add up. And when everything starts to fall apart, Trump will run for the door. “Coffee chatbot, we barely knew you,” Trump will be heard saying.
And secondly, there is an exception here…
