Something unprecedented happened yesterday. Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Dario Amodei — rivals who rarely agree on anything — all called for an AI slowdown. It came after more and more doomsday warnings from experts which seem to have finally woken Congress up to AI’s potentially existential threat. Axios even claimed that Speaker Mike Johnson is considering canceling the House recess to force members back to the Capitol to discuss the crisis. This seems to have been the week that the AI zeitgeist has finally shifted. Seven days that have changed the AI world.
For That Was The Week publisher Keith Teare, it’s time to shut up or shut down. While he remains a sceptic about the autonomy of AI agents, he recognizes its potential danger. “The minute there is recursive self-learning, there’s no speedometer. It’s either on or off,” he says. “You either control it or you don’t.” In terms of AI policy, he argues, you can’t be half-pregnant. Either leave it alone or flip the off switch. Anything else fudges the issue and allows slippery characters like Sam Altman and Dario Amodei to pursue their own agenda.
I don’t disagree. The real world, however, is forever half-pregnant. Investment in AI and the upcoming Anthropic IPO are the driving force of the economy. So AI’s existential threat isn’t just to “humanity.” It’s also to American prosperity, a politically existential threat (thus Trump’s opposition to any regulation). So, yes, this was the week that the AI zeitgeist shifted. The die is, indeed, cast. But it’s only the beginning rather than the end of this remarkable story. Pass the popcorn. Predicting the future might be a fool’s game, but it’s certainly going to get real interesting.
Five Takeaways
• Calling BS on the Slowdown. Altman, Musk, and Amodei all want to slow AI down; the papers all led with it. Keith’s verdict: weak leadership swayed by a six-week employee — and “AI is not dangerous, period.”
• No Speedometer. If recursion is truly uncontrollable, slowing down is incoherent — you shut it down: no Anthropic, no IPO. “The minute there is recursive self-learning, there’s no speedometer.”
• The IPO Game. Altman pulls OpenAI’s listing and calls Dario’s bluff: will Anthropic pull $2 trillion? “He’s playing a game. A high-stakes game.” And unless Democrats take both houses — nothing changes.
• Open Source Wins — China Included. The real race is open versus closed — with China, ironically, open. “Open source leaks like water into every crevice.” Plus: was Kimi just routing queries to Claude?
• The Rest of the Week. Starbucks’ billion-dollar analog bet; how Kevin Roose writes with AI; the iPhone Duo and Apple’s missing AI strategy; Facebook’s Muse and its 27 million machines; farewell, Bill Draper.
About Keen On America
Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.
Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@KeenOnShow
Read That Was The Week: thatwastheweek.com
Chapters:
00:00:31 Introduction: a wave of change? Altman, Musk & Amodei want a slowdown
00:03:04 Keith’s diagnosis: the weakness of AI leadership
00:04:02 Calling BS: “AI is not dangerous, period”
00:05:20 Congress wakes up — and Bessent’s prescient speech
00:08:20 Stephen Witt’s four options — and the COVID parallel
00:09:33 The logic test: slow down or shut down
00:12:52 Trump’s national framing — and the IPO economy
00:14:21 Bernie and the growing “stop” camp
00:16:28 Is America beating China? Open versus closed source
00:18:32 The Kimi revelation — and the year-behind dependency chain
00:19:57 A sane conversation: politics as winning arguments
00:24:38 Altman calls Dario’s bluff: the IPO question
00:25:56 After the midterms: Keith’s forecast
00:27:21 How writers use AI: Kevin Roose’s process
00:29:48 Moonshot capitalism: $246 billion and the power law
00:32:16 California’s chatbot laws
00:35:29 Starbucks’ billion-dollar analog bet
00:37:56 Interview of the week: Edmans, Newton & street-smart investors
00:41:51 The iPhone Duo — and Apple’s missing AI strategy
00:44:21 Facebook’s Muse and the 27 million machines
00:47:20 RIP Bill Draper, one of the fathers of venture capital
00:49:29 The die is cast