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Fault Line Report.

13 arguments between camps, each one checked against what it would predict.

Fault Line Report 13 Weather Report 12 Investigations 21
PlainHoldsWidestMixed
Cartoon of a person in a suit stuffing a wad of bills into a ballot box
Wealth & Power The claim

Critics say AI billionaires are buying the election to control what happens in kids' classrooms.

The catch

The nine-figure spending targets candidates by their stance on AI regulation, not by their stance on schools.

PlainMixedWidestMixed
Cartoon of a person in a suit casually pulling a wall lever shaped like a padlock
Safety Wars The claim

Sacks says Anthropic invented the AI-safety panic to box out rivals.

The catch

Anthropic turned down a Pentagon contract and ate a federal blacklisting rather than drop its safety guardrails.

PlainHoldsWidestMixed
Cartoon of an office manager shrugging and gesturing at a small robot beside an empty chair
Jobs The claim

Critics say companies are using AI as a cover story for ordinary layoffs.

The catch

Real AI-driven job cuts are also happening. Both things are true at the same time.

PlainMixedWidestMixed
Cartoon of a person holding a phone and pointing toward a small distant group
Safety Wars The claim

A White House adviser says AI-doomer rhetoric incited the attack on Sam Altman's home.

The catch

The safety groups blamed for it have zero documented contact with the attacker and explicit no-violence policies.

PlainMixedWidestMixed
Cartoon of a data center building with a large camera on the roof, a small person looking up at it
Control The claim

Critics say Big Tech's AI buildout is really one big surveillance machine.

The catch

Anthropic turned down $200 million from the Pentagon rather than loosen its rules against mass surveillance.

PlainHoldsWidestOpen
Cartoon of a person turning a crank behind a curtain while a giant wave rises on the other side
Control The claim

Critics say the AI industry is selling inevitability to make opposition feel pointless before it forms.

The catch

A hundred-plus cities protested data centers five months after the industry's biggest ad push.

PlainMixedWidestFails
Cartoon of one person pointing at a distant bus while another stands with arms crossed, unimpressed
Data Centers The claim

A tech investor says anti-data-center protesters are bused-in actors funded by Beijing.

The catch

A reporter asked attendees how they got there. They drove themselves.

PlainMixedWidestMixed
Cartoon of a person holding a picket sign while another gestures dismissively, a rocket in the sky behind
Progress The claim

Pro-buildout voices call data-center protesters Luddites who are handing the AI race to China.

The catch

The 120-plus protests are local fights over power bills and water, not organized opposition to AI itself.

PlainOpenWidestFails
Cartoon of a lanky executive holding up a coin beside a piggy bank
Wealth & Power The claim

Sanders says AI executives are cutting jobs to get richer, not to help anyone.

The catch

OpenAI's CEO just proposed taxing the rich, including himself, to fund a payout for everyone.

PlainMixedWidestMixed
Cartoon of a person posting a large coin into a slot on a capitol building's door
Data Centers The claim

Critics say data-center tax breaks prove officials are bought by industry money.

The catch

The same year, New York banned new data centers and a North Carolina commissioner lost his seat for approving one.

PlainOpenWidestMixed
Cartoon of a person in a suit scattering seeds, tall tangled plants sprouting behind them
Safety Wars The claim

Critics say the AI industry's own doom talk set the mood for someone to attack Sam Altman.

The catch

The critics making that case condemned the attack in the same breath they made it.

PlainHoldsWidestMixed
Cartoon of a person cheerfully stamping a tall stack of documents
Wealth & Power The claim

Sacks says California's "one-time" billionaire tax was never going to stay one-time.

The catch

He was right that a second tax proposal followed. Nobody's found a backer who actually wants the industry destroyed.

PlainHoldsWidestFails
Cartoon of a newspaper vendor holding up a big open newspaper
Jobs The claim

Sacks says the AI jobs crisis is a hoax the press is running on purpose.

The catch

A real study found no AI-driven hiring collapse, and the same outlets gave the skeptical case prominent coverage too.

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