The Dossier

Jordan Schachtel

Independent Investigative Reporting www.dossier.today

  1. 2 days ago

    Debunking the Doomers: Data Centers, Jobs, and the Fight for AI's Future — Guest: Nathan Leamer

    Today we are chatting with Nathan Leamer, Executive Director of Build American AI and a longtime fixture in DC’s tech-policy circles, for a rapid-fire tour through the fights shaping America’s AI buildout. We dig into “Humans First,” a self-styled conservative anti-AI group that Leamer has been researching — an operation incorporated in San Francisco, seeded by Center for AI Safety money, and staffed by “Pause AI” activists, yet positioning itself as grassroots and right-coded ahead of a wave of planned data center protests. Against the backdrop of China’s rapidly advancing models, we discuss how sabotaging domestic data center construction is exactly the wrong move at exactly the wrong moment. From there the conversation turns to the economics and politics of the buildout itself: the tens of thousands of construction jobs tied to a single facility, the comparison to 1950s interstate highway spending, and why so much of this investment is landing in rural Virginia, Ohio, Texas, and Florida rather than Silicon Valley. We also work through why skepticism of AI runs deep on the right — from distrust of Big Tech’s politics to fears of a surveillance state — while arguing the “AI will destroy jobs” narrative keeps failing to materialize, pointing to a fresh wave of American entrepreneurship instead. Follow Nathan Leamer on X Get The Dossier Podcast on Spotify Apple Podcast Get full access to The Dossier at www.dossier.today/subscribe

    Debunking the Doomers: Data Centers, Jobs, and the Fight for AI's Future — Guest: Nathan Leamer
  2. 7 Jul

    Astroturf operations targeting the American right — Guest: Parker Thayer

    In this episode of The Dossier Podcast, I sit down with Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher at the Capital Research Center, to unpack one of the most sophisticated astroturf operations targeting the American right today. Parker contributed to a viral exposé of Humans First, an activist group masquerading as a grassroots conservative outfit while pushing to halt the construction of American technological infrastructure nationwide. We reveal how left-wing Silicon Valley money, Effective Altruism networks, and longtime Democratic donors like Dustin Moskovitz are laundering their degrowth agenda through conservative-sounding branding. From hidden ties to the far-left Action Network, to a UK-based X account and articles of incorporation linking straight back to the Center for AI Safety, the operation is a textbook case of influence laundering designed to manufacture opposition to critical American infrastructure. We also dive deeper into the broader ecosystem of astroturf “local news” outfits like Courier Newsroom, the parallels to decades of anti-nuclear fearmongering, and how bad information is being funneled into populist circles to stall progress on AI, energy, and national competitiveness. Parker shares sharp insights on how to uncover these networks and why conservatives must stay vigilant against foreign and domestic actors hijacking legitimate concerns. A must-listen for anyone serious about separating real grassroots sentiment from coordinated deception. Check out the Capital Research Center here Find Parker on X at @ParkerThayer Get full access to The Dossier at www.dossier.today/subscribe

    Astroturf operations targeting the American right — Guest: Parker Thayer

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Independent Investigative Reporting www.dossier.today

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