Keen On America

Walmart just announced it would be raising prices because of tariffs. So is that a good argument against Trump’s autarkic trade policies? Perhaps. But, as the Professor of Innovation at the University of Cambridge, Tim Minshall, points out, the global system of manufacturing is a complex thing. He argues that while countries shouldn't attempt complete manufacturing self-sufficiency, maintaining some domestic capability is crucial for innovation and resilience. Minshall, whose new book How Things Are Made, explores the hidden world of manufacturing, explains how the industrial manufacturing and knowledge economies are deeply interconnected, and how relocating production isn't simple due to complex supplier networks and specialized skills. He addresses challenges facing manufacturing powers like Germany and examines China's rising dominance. Minshall concludes that manufacturing must become both better (less environmentally harmful) and focused on creating better products, while consumers must recognize both their role and responsibility in this complex system.

Five takeaways

* Manufacturing is essential for national "sovereign capability" but countries don't need to make everything themselves - a balanced approach is better than complete self-sufficiency or total offshoring.

* Knowledge economies and manufacturing are interdependent - research and development require tight coupling with production, and letting manufacturing disappear overseas can damage innovation capabilities.

* Manufacturing supply chains are incredibly complex - components for products like iPhones travel "around six times around the world" and factories can't simply be relocated overnight as skills, suppliers and infrastructure take years to develop.

* Modern manufacturing faces two major problems: fragility (as demonstrated during COVID) and environmental damage from production and logistics.

* We need both "better manufacturing" (less harmful processes) and "manufacturing better things" (like clean energy systems), while recognizing our role as consumers in driving manufacturing choices.

Tim Minshall is the inaugural Dr John C. Taylor Professor of Innovation at the University of Cambridge, the head of the Engineering Department’s Institute for Manufacturing and a fellow of Churchill College. His research, teaching and outreach are focused on the links between manufacturing and innovation. He lives in Cambridge with his scientist wife, Nicola.

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting the daily KEEN ON show, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy interview series. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

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Something doesn’t smell right about generative AI. Earlier this week, we had a featuring a former Google researcher who described large language models (LLMs) as a “con”. Then, of course, there’s OpenAI CEO Sam Altman who critics both inside and outside OpenAI, see as a little more than a persuasive conman. Scam or not, the biggest technical problem with LLMs, according to Peter Vos, who invented the term Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), is that it lacks memory and thus are inherently incapable of incremental learning. Voss, the current CEO of Aigo.ai, argues that LLMs therefore represent a technological “dead end” for AI. The industry, Voss argues, has gone “fundamentally wrong” with generative AI. It’s a classic economic mania, he says. And, as with all bubbles in the past - like Dutch tulips, internet DotComs or Japanese real-estate - it will eventually burst with devastating consequences.

Peter Voss is a pioneer in AI who coined the term 'AGI' (Artificial General Intelligence) in 2001. As an engineer, scientist, inventor, and serial entrepreneur, he developed a comprehensive ERP package, growing his company from zero to a 400-person IPO in seven years. For the past 20 years, he has studied intelligence and AI, leading to the creation of the Aigo engine, a proto-AGI natural language intelligence that is revolutionizing call centers and advancing towards human-level intelligence.

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting the daily KEEN ON show, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy interview series. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

It’s probably not news that today’s Supreme Court runs on crazy conservative grudges and even crazier patrimonial fringe theories. But according to Leah Litman, Crooked Media podcaster and author of Lawless, the Supreme Court in Trump’s America is most defined by what she memorably identifies as “bad vibes” (ie: feelings and anxieties). Litman argues these vibes reflect Republican anxieties about America's increasing cultural diversity and long term shift to a more progressive consensus. Litman characterizes the Roberts’ Supreme Court as implementing a "vindictive patriarchy" that seeks to return women to traditional roles. She criticizes Court decisions on voting rights, presidential immunity, and reproductive freedom as serving the minority interests of wealthy white men. The Court’s bad vibes, Litman says, extend to America's current constitutional crisis, particularly regarding Trump's executive overreach and the legal profession's pathetic response to this authoritarian power grab.

five key takeaways

* Litman argues that today's Supreme Court decisions are based on "vibes" (feelings and anxieties) rather than objective legal principles, leading her to characterize it as "lawless."

* She positions the Court as part of a longer Republican project to use judicial power to implement conservative social policies, particularly regarding women's roles and reproductive rights.

* Litman describes the current situation as a "vindictive patriarchy," where conservative men feel entitled to women's time and companionship, evidenced by backlash against women's independence.

* Litman, who teaches law at Michigan, expresses disappointment in how large law firms have capitulated to Trump's administration instead of engaging in collective resistance to protect the rule of law.

* Litman believes America is experiencing a constitutional crisis, with Congress failing to check executive power and the courts inconsistently resisting presidential overreach, particularly regarding deportations and executive actions.

Leah Litman is a professor of law at the University of Michigan and a former Supreme Court clerk. In addition to cohosting Strict Scrutiny, she writes frequently about the Court for media outlets including The Washington Post, Slate, and The Atlantic, among others, and has appeared as a commentator on NPR and MSNBC, in addition to other venues. She has received the Ruth Bader Ginsburg award for her “scholarly excellence” from the American Constitution Society and published in top law reviews. Follow her on X @LeahLitman and Instagram @ProfLeahLitman.

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting the daily KEEN ON show, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy interview series. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Rather than apple pie, addiction might be defining quality of 21st century American life. That, at least, is the view of Mattea Kramer, author of Untended, a contemporary novel about addiction in small town America. She argues that individualistic American capitalism has caused an plague of addiction - in everything from drugs and alcohol to technology and egoism. Kramer sees community as the only real antidote to this epidemic. She connects addiction to broader social issues like economic exploitation and discusses how small-town America has been ravaged by this epidemic and by what she calls “late-stage capitalism”. So how to address this epidemic of addiction in contemporary America? Kramer has no simple fix, but emphasizes the importance of recognizing the humanity in those struggling with addiction and suggests that moral agency and human connection offer hope amid these challenges.

Five Key Takeaways

* American individualism and capitalism create fertile ground for addiction by fostering isolation and disconnection, leading people to seek substances or behaviors that fill this void.

* Addiction extends beyond substances to include work, devices, shopping, and even the pursuit of feeling "special and successful," which Kramer identifies as her family's particular "quintessentially American" addiction.

* The opioid crisis has created intergenerational trauma as children are left "untended" when parents struggle with addiction, perpetuating cycles of harm.

* Stigma surrounding addiction makes recovery more difficult, especially for parents who face amplified shame that prevents them from seeking help.

* Kramer believes reconnecting with our shared humanity and exercising moral agency through compassion offer the best path forward amid societal challenges, rather than focusing solely on individual willpower.

Mattea Kramer is an American writer. She writes about drugs, power and powerlessness, and the voice in your head. She's been published in The Guardian, The Nation, Mother Jones, Guernica, and The Washington Post, and she has appeared on MSNBC and on radio stations across the country. Her first novel The Untended has just been published.

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting the daily KEEN ON show, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy interview series. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Is AI a big scam? In their co-authored new book, The AI Con, Emily Bender and Alex Hanna take aim at what they call big tech “hype”. They argue that large language models from OpenAI or Anthropic are merely what Bender dubs "stochastic parrots" that produce text without the human understanding nor the revolutionary technology that these companies claim. Both Bender, a professor of linguistics, and Hanna, a former AI researcher at Google, challenge the notion that AI will replace human workers, suggesting instead that these algorithms produce "mid" or "janky" content lacking human insight. They accuse tech companies of hyping fear of missing out (FOMO) to drive adoption. Instead of centralized AI controlled by corporations, they advocate for community-controlled technology that empowers users rather than exploiting them.

Five Takeaways (with a little help from Claude)

* Large language models are "stochastic parrots" that produce text based on probability distributions from training data without actual understanding or communicative intent.

* The AI "revolution" is primarily driven by marketing and hype rather than groundbreaking technological innovations, creating fear of missing out (FOMO) to drive adoption.

* AI companies are positioning their products as "general purpose technologies" like electricity, but LLMs lack the reliability and functionality to justify this comparison.

* Corporate AI is designed to replace human labor and centralize power, which the authors see as an inherently political project with concerning implications.

* Bender and Hanna advocate for community-controlled technology development where people have agency over the tools they use, citing examples like Teheku Media's language technology for Maori communities.

Dr. Emily M. Bender is a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Washington where she is also the Faculty Director of the Computational Linguistics Master of Science program and affiliate faculty in the School of Computer Science and Engineering and the Information School. In 2023, she was included in the inaugural Time 100 list of the most influential people in AI. She is frequently consulted by policymakers, from municipal officials to the federal government to the United Nations, for insight into into how to understand so-called AI technologies.

Dr. Alex Hanna is Director of Research at the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR). A sociologist by training, her work centers on the data used in new computational technologies, and the ways in which these data exacerbate racial, gender, and class inequality. She also works in the area of social movements, focusing on the dynamics of anti-racist campus protest in the US and Canada. She holds a BS in Computer Science and Mathematics and a BA in Sociology from Purdue University, and an MS and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Hanna is the co-author of The AI Con (Harper, 2025), a book about AI and the hype around it. With Emily M. Bender, she also runs the Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 series, playfully and wickedly tearing apart AI hype for a live audience online on Twitch and her podcast. She has published widely in top-tier venues across the social sciences, including the journals Mobilization, American Behavioral Scientist, and Big Data & Society, and top-tier computer science conferences such as CSCW, FAccT, and NeurIPS. Dr. Hanna serves as a Senior Fellow at the Center for Applied Transgender Studies and sits on the advisory board for the Human Rights Data Analysis Group. She is also recipient of the Wisconsin Alumni Association's Forward Award, has been included on FastCompany's Queer 50 (2021, 2024) List and Business Insider's AI Power List, and has been featured in the Cal Academy of Sciences New Science exhibit, which highlights queer and trans scientists of color.

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting the daily KEEN ON show, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy interview series. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The traditional notion of western civilization is premised on the legacy of ancient Greece and Rome. Other less Eurocentric historians, like the Silk Road author Peter Frankopan, point to the role of China in shaping classical Europe. But, in The Golden Road, the Scottish-Indian historian William Dalrymple, challenges this "Silk Road" narrative, arguing India was Rome's primary trading partner and spread its culture peacefully throughout Asia. Dalrymple, who has lived in India for the last 40 years, explains how ancient Indian mathematical innovations like the concept of zero and our number system radically transformed the world. In a far ranging conversation, the astonishingly erudite Dalrymple also discusses his meteoric career as a non-academic historian and podcaster, India's resurgence as a global power, and offers his take on the current tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.

Five Key Takeaways

* Ancient India was a civilization equal to Greece, Egypt, and China, contributing pivotal mathematical innovations including zero, the numerical system we use today, and advanced astronomical calculations like determining the Earth's circumference and heliocentric universe model—all developed long before the West.

* The popular "Silk Road" narrative is largely a modern myth created in the 1870s. In reality, Rome and India were major trading partners, not Rome and China, with extensive sea trade rather than overland routes.

* India's historical global influence was achieved peacefully through "soft power" – spreading Buddhism, Hinduism, science, mathematics, and culture across Asia through merchants and monks rather than military conquest.

* Despite being a British historian writing about a former British colony, Dalrymple has found remarkable success in India, becoming a bestselling author who has chosen to focus on writing accessible, well-researched histories rather than pursuing a traditional academic career.

* The current India-Pakistan conflict over Kashmir represents a dangerous flashpoint between nuclear powers that could escalate without diplomatic intervention, reflecting ongoing tensions that date back to 1947.

William Dalrymple FRSL, FRGS, FRAS (born William Hamilton-Dalrymple on 20 March 1965) is a Scottish historian and writer, art historian and curator, as well as a prominent broadcaster and critic. His books have won numerous awards and prizes, including the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize, the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, the Sunday Times Young British Writer of the Year Award, the Hemingway, the Kapuściński and the Wolfson Prizes. He has been four times longlisted and once shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. He is also one of the co-founders and co-directors of the annual Jaipur Literature Festival.

“Who’s Cheating?” asks Keith Teare in his weekly summary of tech news. Keith is defending a Columbia University student who was punished for openly used AI in his classes. As Arthur C. Clark famously noted, advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and so its use is often viewed as cheating by the old regime. But, as Keith and I agree, the $80,000 annual fees that universities are now charging for an undergraduate education could also be seen as a particularly egregious form of cheating. Especially since that a similar education could mostly be achieved by a $20 monthly OpenAI account.

Five Takeaways

* AI usage in education is causing institutional resistance, with a Columbia student's expulsion highlighting the tension between traditional learning and new technology adoption.

* Universities face an existential crisis as AI makes knowledge more accessible, potentially undermining their expensive business model of gatekeeping talent.

* Google's search dominance is threatened as Apple explores AI alternatives and companies like Anthropic develop competitive search APIs.

* OpenAI is navigating a complex transition, maintaining non-profit governance while uncapping profit potential, signaling Altman's focus on commercial applications.

* The future of AI lies in the application layer, with OpenAI's hiring of Instacart's CEO for applications suggesting a strategy to own the entire AI stack from infrastructure to user interface.

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Not everyone will like this argument. Jason Riley, the Wall Street Journal columnist and author of The Affirmative Action Myth, argues that affirmative action policies have been counterproductive for Black Americans. He contends that Black Americans were making faster economic and educational progress before affirmative action policies began in the late 1960s. Riley claims these policies primarily benefit upper-class Blacks while setting up many poorer students for failure by placing them in institutions where they struggle academically. He advocates for colorblind policies rather than racial preferences, arguing that historically Black colleges continue to effectively educate Black professionals, and that integration should not take precedence over educational outcomes.

Five key takeaways

* Riley argues that Black Americans were making faster economic and educational progress before affirmative action policies were implemented in the late 1960s, with gaps narrowing between Black and white Americans.

* He claims affirmative action primarily benefits upper-class Black Americans rather than addressing poverty, with the wealthiest 20% seeing gains while the poorest 20% fell behind.

* Riley contends that racial preferences in college admissions set up many Black students for failure by placing them in institutions where they're academically mismatched, leading to higher dropout rates.

* He emphasizes that historically Black colleges continue to produce disproportionate numbers of Black professionals, suggesting racial integration of classrooms shouldn't take precedence over educational outcomes.

* Riley advocates for colorblind policies rather than racial preferences, arguing that such an approach would better promote Black upward mobility and reduce racial divisiveness.

Jason Riley is an opinion columnist at The Wall Street Journal, where his column, Upward Mobility, has run since 2016. He is also a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and provides television commentary for various news outlets. Mr. Riley, a 2018 Bradley Prize recipient, is the author of four books: “Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders” (2008); “Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed” (2014); “False Black Power?” (2017); and “Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell” (2021). Mr. Riley joined the paper in 1994 as a copy reader on the national news desk in New York. He moved to the editorial page in 1995, was named a senior editorial page writer in 2000, and became a member of the Editorial Board in 2005. He joined the Manhattan Institute in 2015. Born in Buffalo, New York, Mr. Riley earned a bachelor's degree in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has also worked for USA Today and the Buffalo News.

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting the daily KEEN ON show, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy interview series. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

As a direct descendant of Benjamin Franklin, the Chapman University economist Mark Skousen might be a bit biased. That said, Skousen makes an entertaining case in his new book, The Greatest American, for Franklin as being the most innovative and versatile of the Founding Fathers. Skousen acknowledges Franklin's contradictions: his transition from slave owner to abolitionist, his notoriety as a ladies' man and, above all, his moral philosophy of deploying his private wealth for the public good. What we are left with is the most human and least overtly political of all the Founding Fathers.

Five Key Takeaways

* Versatile Genius: Franklin excelled in numerous fields, with Skousen identifying 22 different careers including printing, science, diplomacy, and civic leadership, making him uniquely accomplished among American historical figures.

* Ethical Capitalism: Franklin represents an ideal capitalist model who made his fortune by age 42, then dedicated the rest of his life to public service, establishing libraries, hospitals, and other civic institutions.

* Personal Evolution: Franklin demonstrated willingness to change his views, most notably transitioning from slave owner to becoming the first president of Pennsylvania's abolitionist society.

* Political Pragmatism: Franklin defied easy political categorization, valuing practical solutions over ideology and warning against concentrated power with his famous quote: "a republic, if you can keep it."

* Complex Character: Despite his accomplishments, Franklin had notable flaws, including nepotism and his reputation as a "ladies' man," creating a complicated legacy that transcends simple hero worship.

Mark Skousen holds the Doti-Spogli Chair of Free Enterprise at Chapman University in California. As an eighth-generation direct descendant of Benjamin Franklin, he has had a lifelong interest in the “grandfather” of our nation. Dr. Skousen’s career has often followed that of his illustrious ancestor, as a publisher, author, financial advisor, teacher, father, public servant, and world traveler. In 2006, he and his wife, Jo Ann, compiled and edited The Compleated Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin, covering the remainder of his career, 1757–1790 (published by Regnery History).

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting the daily KEEN ON show, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy interview series. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Much has been made of the hallucinatory qualities of OpenAI’s ChatGPT product. But as the Wall Street Journal’s resident authority on OpenAI, Keach Hagey notes, perhaps the most hallucinatory feature the $300 billion start-up co-founded by the deadly duo of Sam Altman and Elon Musk is its attempt to be simultaneously a for-profit and non-profit company. As Hagey notes, the double life of this double company reached a surreal climax this week when Altman announced that OpenAI was abandoning its promised for-profit conversion. So what, I asked Hagey, are the implications of this corporate volte-face for investors who have poured billions of real dollars into the non-profit in order to make a profit? Will they be Waiting For Godot to get their returns?

As Hagey - whose excellent biography of Altman, The Optimist, is out in a couple of weeks - explains, this might be the story of the hubristic 2020’s. She speaks of Altman’s astonishingly (even for Silicon Valley) hubris in believing that he can get away with the alchemic conceit of inventing a multi trillion dollar for-profit non-profit company. Yes, you can be half-pregnant, Sam is promising us. But, as she warns, at some point this will be exposed as fantasy. The consequences might not exactly be another Enron or FTX, but it will have ramifications way beyond beyond Silicon Valley. What will happen, for example, if future investors aren’t convinced by Altman’s fantasy and OpenAI runs out of cash? Hagey suggests that the OpenAI story may ultimately become a political drama in which a MAGA President will be forced to bail out America’s leading AI company. It’s TikTok in reverse (imagine if Chinese investors try to acquire OpenAI).

Rather than the conveniently devilish Elon Musk, my sense is that Sam Altman is auditioning to become the real Jay Gatsby of our roaring twenties. Last month, Keach Hagey told me that Altman’s superpower is as a salesman. He can sell anything to anyone, she says. But selling a non-profit to for-profit venture capitalists might even be a bridge too far for Silicon Valley’s most hallucinatory optimist.

Five Key Takeaways

* OpenAI has abandoned plans to convert from a nonprofit to a for-profit structure, with pressure coming from multiple sources including attorneys general of California and Delaware, and possibly influenced by Elon Musk's opposition.

* This decision will likely make it more difficult for OpenAI to raise money, as investors typically want control over their investments. Despite this, Sam Altman claims SoftBank will still provide the second $30 billion chunk of funding that was previously contingent on the for-profit conversion.

* The nonprofit structure creates inherent tensions within OpenAI's business model. As Hagey notes, "those contradictions are still there" after nearly destroying the company once before during Altman's brief firing.

* OpenAI's leadership is trying to position this as a positive change, with plans to capitalize the nonprofit and launch new programs and initiatives. However, Hagey notes this is similar to what Altman did at Y Combinator, which eventually led to tensions there.

* The decision is beneficial for competitors like XAI, Anthropic, and others with normal for-profit structures. Hagey suggests the most optimistic outcome would be OpenAI finding a way to IPO before "completely imploding," though how a nonprofit-controlled entity would do this remains unclear.

Keach Hagey is a reporter at The Wall Street Journal’s Media and Marketing Bureau in New York, where she focuses on the intersection of media and technology. Her stories often explore the relationships between tech platforms like Facebook and Google and the media. She was part of the team that broke the Facebook Files, a series that won a George Polk Award for Business Reporting, a Gerald Loeb Award for Beat Reporting and a Deadline Award for public service. Her investigation into the inner workings of Google’s advertising-technology business won recognition from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (Sabew). Previously, she covered the television industry for the Journal, reporting on large media companies such as 21st Century Fox, Time Warner and Viacom. She led a team that won a Sabew award for coverage of the power struggle inside Viacom. She is the author of “The King of Content: Sumner Redstone’s Battle for Viacom, CBS and Everlasting Control of His Media Empire,” published by HarperCollins. Before joining the Journal, Keach covered media for Politico, the National in Abu Dhabi, CBS News and the Village Voice. She has a bachelor’s and a master’s in English literature from Stanford University. She lives in Irvington, N.Y., with her husband, three daughters and dog.

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting the daily KEEN ON show, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy interview series. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Full Transcript

Andrew Keen: Hello, everybody. It is May the 6th, a Tuesday, 2025. And the tech media is dominated today by OpenAI's plan to convert its for-profit business to a non-profit side. That's how the Financial Times is reporting it. New York Times says that OpenAI, and I'm quoting them, backtracks on plans to drop nonprofit control and the Wall Street Journal, always very authoritative on the tech front, leads with Open AI abandons planned for profit conversion. The Wall Street Journal piece is written by Keach Hagey, who is perhaps America's leading authority on OpenAI. She was on the show a couple of months ago talking about Sam Altman's superpower which is as a salesman. Keach is also the author of an upcoming book. It's out in a couple weeks, "The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI and the Race to Invent the Future." And I'm thrilled that Keach has been remarkably busy today, as you can imagine, found a few minutes to come onto the show. So, Keach, what is Sam selling here? You say he's a salesman. He's always selling something or other. What's the sell here?

Keach Hagey: Well, the sell here is that this is not a big deal, right? The sell is that, this thing they've been trying to do for about a year, which is to make their company less weird, it's not gonna work. And as he was talking to the press yesterday, he was trying to suggest that they're still gonna be able to fundraise, that these folks that they promised that if you give us money, we're gonna convert to a for-profit and it's gonna be much more normal investment for you, but they're gonna get that money, which is you know, a pretty tough thing. So that's really, that's what he's selling is that this is not disruptive to the future of OpenAI.

Andrew Keen: For people who are just listening, I'm looking at Keach's face, and I'm sensing that she's doing everything she can not...