Executives Highlight AI Adoption Hurdles and Data Center Concerns at Goldman Sachs Conference

Concerns regarding public resistance to artificial intelligence infrastructure and the pace of AI adoption dominated discussions at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology conference on Wednesday.

Mike Intrator, CEO of CoreWeave, told CNBC that the tech industry has failed to adequately communicate the benefits of AI and data centers to the general public. He suggested that local opposition is not necessarily driven by the physical footprint of data centers, but rather by anxiety over the rapid rate of technological change and its impact on families and communities.

“I don’t think we have done a particularly good job of talking about the benefits of what the data centers allow the AI companies to be able to deliver,” Intrator said. He emphasized that the fear stems from the uncertainty of how quickly the world is evolving.

Visa CEO Ryan McInerney addressed the commercial side of AI integration, noting that consumer trust in “agentic commerce”—where AI agents make payments on behalf of users—has developed more slowly than anticipated. According to McInerney, most consumers do not yet trust these platforms to handle financial transactions autonomously.

The conference also touched on the broader risks associated with the race toward superintelligence. Earlier in the week, Jacob Coxon, an AI researcher who previously worked at both Anthropic and OpenAI, resigned from his position at Anthropic. In a statement posted on X, Coxon accused the leading AI firms of gambling with human survival, warning that superhuman systems could emerge by the end of the decade with the ability to hack critical infrastructure and acquire significant resources.

The event brought together executives from major technology and media companies to navigate the dual reality of AI as both a transformative opportunity and a significant risk factor for businesses.