AI Has Silicon Valley on Another Manic Quest to Change the World

In late May, 300 entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, journalists and assorted self-described thought leaders crammed into Shack15, a stylish social club on the second floor of San Francisco’s Ferry Building, where most spoke in soaring terms about what they saw as the next gold rush. The gathering, dubbed a “Generative AI Meeting of the Minds,” would’ve been unthinkable during the pandemic and improbable earlier this year, when the city’s main obsessions often seemed to be car break-ins and retail store closures. The night had the feel of a religious revival. “Something is happening, something is cracking open,” said the evening’s ...