Dallas, Texas — When the pandemic decimated the live events scene, Joe Allen “packed up a survival bunker on wheels” and headed out on a new career path.
Jobs were few and far between for “concert riggers” like Allen, who set up concert lighting and sound systems. So he pursued a different kind of roadie life: traveling around the country and writing about the dangers of new technology and artificial intelligence for outlets like The Federalist — eventually landing a gig on former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast.
Allen’s skepticism would have been niche just a few years ago. But now he also travels the country giving sermons warning about the dangers of AI, striking a nerve with Americans who are increasingly worried about AI’s impact on their jobs, electricity bills and mental health, as well as the environment. A June survey from the Pew Research Center found more Americans feel AI will be bad than good for society.
A graduate of Boston University’s religion and science program and a self-proclaimed tech-Luddite, Allen’s anti-AI stance is now firmly in the mainstream. In February, TIME featured him in a cover story about the backlash against AI.
“I sound less crazy now,” Allen said before a speech in March at Dallas’ First Baptist Church, one of the country’s largest mega churches.
Allen’s speeches, writings, and media appearances are helping fuel a widening rift on AI within the American right that could pose a problem for President Donald Trump and Republicans in the coming midterm elections. Many in Allen’s audiences are MAGA supporters — but they don’t necessarily agree with the Trump administration’s largely hands-off approach to regulating AI.
“There is this whole cultural matrix that’s already filled with this resentment. People are horrified by the imposition of technology,” he told CNN. “They’re furious. They do not want it.”
Growing pushback against AI
Nationwide, college students worried about their job prospects booed AI at commencement ceremonies. Communities are protesting the construction of AI data centers, afraid they’ll bring pollution and noise. Families are suing AI companies for harmful actions they say AI chatbots encouraged.
Allen leans into those sentiments.
It’s not modern technology that Allen takes issue with; it’s the perception of AI as a “god” that knows better than humans about what is “good” and “true” rather than a tool, he said during his speech at First Baptist.
He claimed to several hundred parishioners that the “tech elite” aimed to replace God with the “religion of AI.” One slide in his presentation showed the faces of prominent AI executives pasted onto the tentacles of a powerful fictional monster known as the Shoggoth, originating from H.P. Lovecraft’s 1936 novella At the Mountains of Madness. The creature has become a metaphor in the AI world, symbolizing the uncertainty around how AI models work under the hood.
AI “uses you” and preys on children, he said, “masked by the innocence” of a screen.
“If you’re skeptical of this, if you don’t want to live this way, you are not alone,” Allen said.
Bannon, whose “War Room” podcast helped elevate Allen to a national audience, said he knew early on that Allen’s words would resonate with working-class and lower-middle-class Americans and encouraged him to take his message on the road.
“He’s perfect for that audience,” Bannon told CNN, citing Allen’s background in theology, his Southern mannerisms and ability to connect to a crowd.
Tech giants have argued that AI will benefit society by creating new jobs and making people more productive, handling digital drudgery like sifting through emails, writing code, editing photos and catching up on the news. Companies have also touted efforts to reduce energy consumption, pay for the power their data centers consume and implement guardrails around their models.
‘You can’t sell them on this’
The First Baptist Church has a 270,000 square foot complex in downtown Dallas to serve its 16,000 or so congregants. (It even has its own parking garage.)
First Baptist is one of the most famous and politically influential churches in the country. Its leader, Robert Jeffries has been a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, and many of the church’s congregants are avowed Trump supporters.
But when Allen came in March, it was clear many of those supporters didn’t like Trump’s initial approach to AI. Trump has largely favored looser regulation, so AI companies can advance quickly and stay ahead of China. But some supporters worry the tech is moving too fast.
Elizabeth Gomez Crocker, for example, said she considers herself a “Trumpy” but worries about AI replacing jobs. She wants development to slow down so more research can be done.
“Trump does say some things that true supporters like myself are going, ‘Whoa, what?” she said.
A bipartisan majority wants the government to regulate AI, Pew’s June survey showed. But even among Republicans, 61 per cent are not confident in the government’s ability to regulate AI effectively.
“Americans are becoming more negative on AI over time” even as they start to use AI chatbots more frequently, said Pew Associate Director Jeff Gottfried. Younger people feel the most negative about AI’s impacts on society and the future, Gottfried added.
While Trump supporters wary of AI are “very respectful” toward the president, they may be tough to sway, said Bannon. Few topics these days find unity across the political spectrum like AI — a CBS News/YouGov poll from May found a majority of liberals, moderates and conservatives do not think the US government policy will make sure AI is used “in the right way.”
“They have seen the facts, they’ve looked at the data centers, they’ve looked at what’s happening in the schools, they’ve looked at what’s going on the jobs,” Bannon said. “You can’t sell them on this, there’s no spin you can put on it.”
Allen said he considers himself just one part of an “entire network” spanning ideological divides against AI. It’s a rift for Trump right now, he said, but he hopes the president makes “the right choice” on AI.
“He’s got three years to make that decision,” Allen said. “And his legacy is going to depend on that.”
By Hadas Gold, CNN
