Transcript: Shyam Sankar, chief technology officer of Palantir, on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Oct. 11, 2026

AI researchers are taking up smoking because they expect AI to cure cancer, says Palantir CTO

Some AI believers expect the technology to make smoking-related health risks like cancer a thing of the past, Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar said.

Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar says researchers have started smoking, believing AI will cure cancer

The AI industry is confident that AI will cure cancer. How confident? According to Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar, some AI researchers have started smoking in an effort to go all-in on the technology.

Transcript: Shyam Sankar, chief technology officer of Palantir, on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Oct. 11, 2026

The following is the full transcript of the interview with Shyam Sankar, chief technology officer of Palantir, a portion of which aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Oct. 11, 2026.

Palantir CTO says some AI researchers are taking up smoking because they expect AI to cure cancer

Palantir's CTO Shyam Sankar said taking up smoking has become a way for AI researchers to show how much they believe in AI. Tom Brenner/Bloomberg via Getty Images Some AI researchers are picking up cigarettes, Palantir's CTO said. Why? They think AI is going to cure cancer anyway, Shyam Sankar…