“I don’t feel any shame at all recruiting an army of AI agents to help me accomplish my goals. But I think society is trying to make me feel shame.” — Keith Teare

Welcome to the summer of America’s luddite discontent. Not only are left and right calling for an AI ban, but tech loathing has even infiltrated Silicon Valley in the form of Anthropic’s decision to watermark Claude’s output. That, at least, is the view of That Was The Week publisher Keith Teare, who believes that watermarking is “nuts.”

In our luddite zeitgeist, Keith believes that a watermark is a scarlet stamp of implied guilt. By marking its own product, Anthropic is not only furnishing the luddite mob with a convenient surveillance tool, but also acknowledging a tacit guilt about using Claude.

“You should never adjust to the market,” the Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur explains. “The market’s wrong nine times out of ten.”

As for Dario Amodei, Claude’s dad (so to speak), Keith is even more accusatory. The Anthropic CEO is kissing ass “like a politician, not the leader of a company,” Keith hisses, repeating this week’s whispers that Anthropic is becoming an “ideologically motivated cult.” If Dario were female, Keith would probably make him a witch. Or, at least, a hussy — the hysterical implication, if not the word, of the Journal’s profile of Cami Clark, Dario’s wife.

I took Anthropic’s side — somebody had to. I see watermarking as just another AI tool. It’s an honest human fingerprint in an age of fakery. Live by the algorithm, die by it too. Anyway, a watermark has its uses. Rather than moral opprobrium, it feeds our curiosity about who is and isn’t using AI. So, for example, I ran Keith’s editorial through another AI detector and it indicated 86 percent AI-generated while mine came back as 100 percent human. And if I can elude the scarlet stamp, then even I might have to join the luddite mob.

Five Takeaways

• “Watermarking Is Nuts.” Keith’s case against Anthropic: a watermark starts from suspicion and tells customers their use needs flagging. Andrew: an honest fingerprint is a very human addition.

• The Scarlet Watermark: On AI Shame. Keith: no shame in an army of AI agents — shame is for spam factories. Pangram: 86% Keith, 100% Andrew. “I’m a clever cheater. You’re a less clever cheater.”

• Keith vs Dario. “Like a politician, not the leader of a company” — never adjust to the market. Andrew defends Dario; his real gripe is $100 a month and out of credits. Keith, this week: a Grok Bot guy.

• The Luddite Summer Reading List. The WSJ’s nation of Luddites, Noah Smith’s poverty of anti-tech thought, and Martin Wolf on Acemoglu: the ship of liberal democracy has sailed. Indianapolis agrees; Keith’s movie of history doesn’t.

• Unicorns, Circles — and Two IPOs. Jones is “a nicer, smarter Lina Khan” who’d have to deglobalize the world. The NYT’s circularity fear meets the Channel Tunnel. The IPOs are the climax — Keith will buy both.

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 nation of Luddites
00:02:07 What exactly is watermarking?
00:03:14 “Watermarking is nuts”
00:06:10 A watermark starts from suspicion
00:07:02 Or a badge of pride?
00:04:37 Cult whispers and the case against Anthropic
00:04:49 “This week I’ll become a Grok Bot guy”
00:08:50 The Pangram test: 86% Keith, 100% Andrew
00:09:41 The canceled author: “don’t pretend there isn’t an issue”
00:10:08 “I do what Elon would do”: Keith on Dario
00:11:07 Never adjust to the market
00:12:35 Shame, spam factories, and an army of AI agents
00:13:57 How Andrew and Keith actually make their content
00:16:24 One Claude Max cancellation (not Keith’s)
00:17:30 In defense of Dario: $100 a month and out of credits
00:18:52 The Eric Schmidt subplot
00:21:57 Watermarking, inequality, and the Luddite lobby
00:24:56 Confession, sin, and the atheist’s faith
00:25:38 Should Eric Schmidt be watermarked?
00:26:40 Noah Smith and the poverty of anti-tech thought
00:29:46 Martin Wolf on Acemoglu: the ship has sailed
00:32:30 Indianapolis vs the movie of history
00:37:08 Renée Jones revisited: a nicer, smarter Lina Khan
00:41:18 Keith’s question for the Democrats
00:41:43 Circularity and the Grok Bot verdict
00:47:07 Buy Zillow (and both IPOs)
00:48:26 “I’m a clever cheater. You’re a less clever cheater.”