AI Summary
5 min readBig Tech lost big in the 2026 election
The 2026 midterm elections delivered a Democratic wave that exceeded even the most optimistic polling, and the Vergecast hosts David Pierce and Nilay Patel spent most of the episode working through what it means for the tech industry — and the answer is: nothing good. The election results were, in Patel's words, "terrible news for AI and for data centers," and the episode traces a direct line from voter anger about corruption to voter rejection of the very infrastructure the AI boom depends on.
The data center revolt
There were 41 ballot measures across 10 states this week related to data centers. All but one of them went against the industry. The sole exception was in Hardwood, North Dakota. Patel's immediate reaction when the returns started coming in was that polling had shown corruption as the number one issue for Americans — and that almost all the anti-data center measures passed. "Those ideas in my mind are so linked, completely linked," he said. Voters have watched tech CEOs line up behind Trump, pay for inauguration ballrooms, and buy political favors, and they've concluded the trade isn't worth it. The products aren't good enough to justify the costs. "You cannot tell people that you have to listen to the whine of a data center in their backyard for AI overviews and some of the most hilarious deepfake slop in history," Pa
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What you'll learn
- 1 (02:01) **Election Night Post-Mortem: Big Tech Takes a Hit** - The hosts open by framing the 2026 midterm results as a disaster for Republicans, AI, and data centers, tying voter anger about corruption directly to the tech industry’s political influence.
- 2 (11:41) **What a Democratic Win Means for Tech Policy** - The discussion shifts to what the new Democratic majority can actually accomplish, given Donald Trump is still president for two more years.
- 3 (15:16) **Social Media’s Political Irrelevance Exposed** - The hosts analyze how different social platforms reflected (or failed to reflect) the election results, with a focus on X’s complete failure to predict the outcome.
- 4 (25:55) **The New Political Rhetoric on AI Doomerism** - The hosts discuss how rising Democratic politicians are now directly using the language of AI risk and corporate corruption in their victory speeches.
- 5 (33:15) **OpenAI vs. Google: The Search War is a Money Pit** - The hosts break down OpenAI’s claim that it is catching up to Google Search, contrasting it with Google’s own struggles to monetize its AI features.
- 6 (46:48) **The AI Agent Economy is a Mirage** - Data from Uber and DoorDash reveals that AI agent usage is virtually nonexistent, contradicting the hype on platforms like X.
- 7 (56:52) **Muse’s Slowdown and the Novelty Problem** - New data suggests that Meta’s AI agent, Muse, is experiencing a sharp decline in user engagement after an initial burst of curiosity.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
The 2026 midterm elections in the US ended in a sweeping win for Democrats — and several dozen sweeping losses for the AI industry. Nilay and David dig into what the results will mean for data centers, Big Tech, and even the future of X. Then, they try to figure out whether anyone's making any money in AI — not so much, it turns out — and whether the touchscreen MacBook is worth the price.
Further reading: