Shut Up or Shut Down? Amodei, Altman, Musk & the Great AI Freakout

Andrew Keen (0:00)

Hello, my name is Andrew Keen. Welcome to Keen On America, the daily interview show about the United States.

Hello, everybody. It is Saturday, September 12, 2026 I'll probably put this out tomorrow on Sunday. Earlier this week, we did a show with a Finnish writer on Zeitgeist, what he calls waves of change, when everybody changes their mind and it inaugurates a new moment in history. And I wonder if we're living through that today. All the big papers, from the Financial Times to the Wall Street Journal to the New York Times, are all leading with the same story, that Sam Altman and Elon Musk and Dario Amodei are all on the same page now, calling for an AI slowdown. I think this initially came from a piece by Dario.

And Altman and Musk, who are generally, particularly Altman, not particularly friendly or sympathetic to Altman, to Dario, have jumped on board and said that they need to slow it down. And this comes on the back of what the Wall Street Journal calls America's great AI freakouts covering all sorts of things. The Journal says that Congress is suddenly waking up to the AI doomsday threat. Whether that's real or not, they're waking up to it and Axios had a scoop earlier this week that Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, is being urged to cancel the House recess over AI warning. So Keith Teare, the author of the That Was The Week newsletter, has never been particularly friendly to slowing down AI development, which we've talked about in the past. His newsletter this week is AI Is Grown, using all sorts of biological metaphors. But I wonder, Keith, we know you're not in favor of regulation or slowing down. We've talked about that probably too many times. But can one do you think, assume that this time it's for real, that the fact that all the main three players in AI are on the same page calling for a slowdown? Does this represent a new chapter in the history of AI?

Keith Teare (3:03)

No, I think it really illustrates the weakness of AI leadership and the fact that they can be influenced by a six-week-long employee who resigned and wrote an essay and has been on the TV and...

Andrew Keen (3:18)

Yeah, but that's not my question whether you approve of it or not. As I said, you always, for one reason or another, I wasn't answering whether I approve, I was diagnosing the cause. But in historical terms, you think in historical terms, whether or not you approve of it, whether or not it reflects the weakness of AI leaders, we know you're not always a big fan of them, particularly Amodei.

Does it suggest that, especially given the political tremors associated with this about Congress waking up, does it suggest that regulation is now really, for better or worse, I know you're against it on the horizon?

Keith Teare (4:01)

My editorial this week is calling BS on the whole discussion. I actually try very hard to explain that there is no such thing as AI as an independent actor, and therefore the entire scare is misconstrued.

Andrew Keen (4:22)

Yeah, but we're not, again, I keep on saying this. We know your position. We've been over this week after week. You're not sympathetic. And in some ways, I agree with you.

Keith Teare (4:31)

Andrew, it's not about sympathy. It's not about opinion. AI is not dangerous, period.

Andrew Keen (4:37)

Yeah, but we're not, but that's not my question. The question is, are we in a new political reality in your sense? I mean, the fact that the three major newspapers are all leading with the same story.

Keith Teare (4:47)

I think we are, but it represents a strong economic self-interest by the AI leaders to contain open-source AI and its growth.

It isn't that they are bowing down to a mass movement. They have an extremely strong self-interest in putting rules in place that prevent others from playing.

Andrew Keen (5:18)

But coming back to the politics of this, what's your take on, again, Congress is not made up mostly of particularly sophisticated people, but they are sophisticated when it comes to technology, but they have good senses when it comes to politics.

And we know, and I mean, I'm not knowledgeable about AI to make any comment on these doomsday threats. Some of them do seem very exaggerated. But is Congress waking up to it? I mean, waking up might not be the right word. Suddenly recognizing that for them, at least it might also represent a political opportunity. The only person who doesn't seem to be too bothered about it is Trump. He was asked about AI's existential risks. He said, I don't have any, although he seems increasingly marginal as well in American politics these days.