Peter Diamandis opened the exchange with numbers that alarmed him. He cited figures without saying where they came from: 80% of Americans fear AI. He said 73% don't want a data center in their backyard, a larger share than object to a nearby nuclear reactor. In China, he said, "the flip is true," with 80% in favor. Diamandis founded XPRIZE and Singularity University and hosts the Moonshots podcast. He describes his approach as "data-driven optimism," and he asked Cathie Wood, founder, CEO and chief investment officer of ARK Invest, how the fear was affecting her and the markets.
The conversation was recorded on September 25, 2026, on stage at Moonshots Live 2026. Emad Mostaque, founder of Intelligent Internet, and Nikhil Chandhok, chief product and technology officer at the stablecoin company Circle, also took part. The episode was published on September 29.
The data center and the nuclear lesson
Data centers are the large buildings full of computer chips that train and run AI systems. They use a lot of electricity, which is one reason neighbors push back. Wood argued the opposite. She said there is already proof that putting a data center in your state or city will, over time, lower your electricity costs. She did not say what that proof was.
To make her case, she pointed to nuclear power. It "stopped in its tracks in the 70s because of regulation," she said. Had it not been regulated, electricity prices in the United States would be 50% of what they are now. She called this a lesson to tell policymakers today and said nuclear is now going "full steam ahead," though it will take a while to play out. Diamandis called the lost decades "a travesty." The electricity-price figure and the data-center claim are Wood's own estimates.
Her conclusion was blunt: "regulation is a menace." She said she and her team at ARK try to bring data to politicians. She described a political backlash even in Florida, a business-friendly state, and said you have to face policymakers with facts. ARK gives its research away in the hope it reaches policy circles. "Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't."
Diamandis described a conversation of his own. On an earlier podcast he had asked Michael Kratsios, who heads the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, who inside the government was dealing with misinformation and helping Americans feel more confident. "They didn't have an answer," Diamandis said. "And that worries me."
Better stories, and a forecast of labor shortages
The discussion then turned to how AI is talked about. The point was made that if the news is constantly talking about AI taking away jobs, this reaction should be expected. AI has to make housing cheaper, education better and healthcare more accessible, not just help people live longer, and nobody is telling those stories. The obvious follow-up from a parent is: if there are fewer office jobs, what will my kids do? Diamandis joked that CNN stands for "Crisis News Network."
Wood said the numbers do not support the job-loss story, except maybe at entry level, as she had mentioned earlier that day. "I actually think we're going to end up with labor shortages," she said, and that is what she thinks people should go out talking about. Her reasoning was historical: technology is "a net job creator always," despite short-term disruption. When people ask what the new jobs will be, she points out that in the early 1990s nobody could conceive of influencers, Airbnb or Uber. Many future jobs cannot be imagined yet.
To get past that limit, Wood described an exercise. She asks ChatGPT or Grok to consult futurists, scientists, engineers, science-fiction writers, economists and strategists, and name the new jobs tied to ARK's five major platforms. "Asteroid miner" came up, which she said she had not been using in her own examples, even though she talks about space as a new world. Diamandis, who had said the topic was dear to his heart, agreed.
"Animal spirits" in the US
Wood then contrasted American confidence with the fearful headlines. Economists use "animal spirits" to mean the confidence and appetite for risk that drive investment. She said she had seen a statistic that week that 90% of the corporate bonds funding data centers are American. Corporate bonds are a way for companies to borrow from investors. She did not name the source. Abroad, she said, she does not see those animal spirits but does see fear. "The headlines might be reading this, but the animal spirits are alive and kicking," she said, adding that markets were near all-time highs.
She also played down concern about borrowing costs. Interest rates are going up and will go up, she said. If growth picks up dramatically, they should: "that's the market working."