Granderson: How fearmongering sets policy, from 'marihuana' to solar to AI

Granderson argues that fearmongering shapes policy across issues ranging from marijuana to solar and AI, while also describing how data collection can support marketing. The column references a consent authorization that allows Arcamax and affiliates to use, sell, and share information for marketing, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as well as to add inferred interests from web browsing and data from brokers. It also notes the ability to opt out via an email link. Shifting to AI infrastructure, the piece says no government spends more on artificial intelligence than America and cites the Brookings Institution: federal AI contracts rose from 472 in 2022 to more than 1,700 in 2026, with about $90 billion attributed to the Department of Defense. Other departments are said to spend tens of millions. The author links concerns about data-center growth and energy use to uncertainty about whether AI benefits society or concentrates wealth.