Keen On

"I didn't use my own software this week because the OpenAI agents were better. And that's me retiring my own software." — Keith Teare Something broke this week. Both Anthropic and OpenAI launched multi-agent systems—"agent swarms"—that don't just assist with tasks but replace custom-built software entirely. The market noticed: Adobe, Salesforce, Workday, and other legacy SaaS companies saw their stocks collapse in what some are calling a trillion-dollar selloff. Keith Teare joins Andrew Keen on Super Bowl weekend to unpack what may be the most consequential week in AI since ChatGPT launched. The conversation ranges from the Anthropic-OpenAI advertising spat (Dario Amodei's Super Bowl ad vs. Sam Altman's "online tantrum") to the deeper structural shifts: Microsoft and Amazon becoming utilities, Google betting $185 billion on an AI-first pivot, and Elon Musk merging SpaceX with xAI to put data centers in space. Along the way, Teare and Keen debate whether the AI race is a myth or a wacky race, whether venture capital is in crisis, and what happens to human labor when agents do the work. About the Guest Keith Teare is a British-American entrepreneur, investor, and technology analyst. He co-founded RealNames Corporation, a pioneering internet company, and later served as Executive Chairman of TechCrunch. He is the founder of That Was The Week and SignalRank, and publishes a widely-read weekly newsletter on technology, venture capital, and the business of innovation. He brings four decades of experience in Silicon Valley to his analysis of the AI revolution. Chapters:00:00 Super Bowl and the Anthropic ad The spat between Dario Amodei and Sam Altman 01:09 "Fundamentally dishonest" Keith's take on the ad war and who's really Dick Dastardly 05:47 Anthropic's breakout week Claude Opus 4.6 and the agent swarm launch 06:48 OpenAI Codex Multiple agents collaborating on tasks in 10-15 minutes 07:42 "It replaces software" Keith retires his own custom-built tools 08:16 The trillion-dollar selloff Adobe, Salesforce, Workday, PayPal collapse 11:02 Infrastructure vs. innovation Microsoft and Amazon become "utilities" 11:45 Google's $185 billion bet Pivoting from hybrid to AI-first 13:15 The SpaceX/xAI merger Musk's plan for space-based data centers 15:18 The AI wacky race Kimi, OpenAI, Anthropic leapfrog Google 17:03 Does AI make us smarter? Leverage tools, not intelligence 18:53 AI growing up, CEOs not The adolescence of the industry 21:06 US job openings hit five-year low The coming labor crisis 22:44 The VC crisis Five funds sucking the air out of the room 25:04 Palantir and Anduril The winners in defense AI 25:42 Facebook as laggard Huge revenues, no AI momentum 26:41 The Washington Post crisis "Boogeyman journalism" and partisan media 29:23 Ads in AI Paid links vs. enshittification 31:26 Spotify's innovation Physical book + audiobook bundle 32:32 Startup of the week Cursor for CRM, $20M from Sequoia 33:45 Om Malik on the end of software distribution From CDs to app stores to self-made 35:41 Super Bowl prediction Seattle vs. New England 36:02 Closing "That really was the week in tech" Links & References Mentioned in this episode: That Was The Week newsletter by Keith Teare Anthropic's Super Bowl ad and ad-free pledge (CNBC) Sam Altman's response to Anthropic ads (TechCrunch) SpaceX acquires xAI in $1.25 trillion merger (CNBC) The Washington Post layoffs and crisis (Poynter) Om Malik on the evolution of software distribution OpenAI Codex app launch (OpenAI) About Keen On America Nobody asks more impertinent questions than the Anglo-American writer, filmmaker and SiliconValley entrepreneur Andrew Keen. In Keen On America , Andrew brings his sharp Transatlanticwit to the forces reshaping the United States — hosting daily interviews with leading thinkersand writers about American history, politics, technology, culture, and business. With nearly2,800 episodes since the show launched on TechCrunch in 2010, Keen On America is the mostprolific intellectual interview show in the history of podcasting.Website | Substack | YouTube