Kara Swisher Downplays Crypto’s Significance: ‘It’s Not the Center of Everything’

In
an

interview
with
CoinDesk’s
First
Mover,
technology
journalist
Kara
Swisher,
author
of
the
New
York
Times
bestseller
“Burn
Book,”
said
that
she
is
skeptical
that
cryptocurrencies
have
transformative
potential,
calling
digital
assets
important
but
not
world-changing.

“The
internet
was
a
major
Cambrian
explosion.
This
is
a
tiny
one.
I
guess
a
volcanic
eruption
on
Indonesia,”
she
said
on
First
Mover.
“It’s
a
very
important
area
of
technology,
but
it’s
not
the
most
important.
It’s
not
the
center
of
everything.”

Swisher
argued
that
the
cryptocurrency
sector
has
been
caught
up
in
a
“huge
hype
cycle”
with
a
considerable
amount
of
“scammery”
involved.

“Crypto
people
really
overplayed
their
hand
in
that
regard,
saying
it’s
going
to
change
everything,”
she
said.
“This
is
a
typical
thing
of
technologists
…
[saying]
that
it’s
going
to
change
the
whole
world.”

Swisher
believes
crypto
will
ultimately
settle
into
being
just
another
niche
within
the
broader
tech
landscape,
comparing
it
to
many
other
technological
innovations
that
have
come
and
gone
without
reshaping
the
world.

“It
needs
to
replace
something
that’s
better.
Digital
downloads
of
books,
for
instance,
aren’t
necessarily
better
than
physical
books,
but
they
are
very
good,”
she
said.
“[Crypto]
overstepped
itself,
but
it
will
settle
into
a
nice,
small
corner.”

So
if
crypto
is
fizzing
out,
and
is
yet
to
fulfill
the
grand
visions
of
its
most
ardent
supporters,
where
is
the
the
hype
going?

Artificial
intelligence,
says
Swisher.

AI
isn’t
profitable
yet
because
“these
ventures
are
very
costly,
requiring
substantial
investment
in
computing
power
and
development,”
she
said.

“Unlike
the
early
internet
era,
where
anyone
could
launch
ventures
like
Uber
or
Airbnb
inexpensively,
AI
requires
significant
capital,”
she
continued,
citing
OpenAI’s

Sam
Altman
wanting
to
raise
enormous
sums
for
projects
like
chip
manufacturing.

“Only
the
big
companies
can
afford
to
lose
this
money
and
afford
to
pay
for
this,”
she
said.

But
AI
has
captured
the
interest
of
the
public
and
major
tech
companies
in
a
way
that’s
taken
some
of
the
momentum
away
from
blockchain
and
crypto,
albeit
not
without
its
own
hype
and
exaggerated
claims
similar
to
those
seen
in
the
crypto
space.

“AI
is
a
big
deal
in
comparison,”
she
said.
“It’s
just
that
everyone
has
to
slap
AI
onto
their
company
name,
and
then
they’re
an
AI
company.”