OpenAI’s Safety Theater

AI is getting more powerful, publishers want their communities back, and marketers are apparently becoming engineers.

In this episode of This Old Marketing, Joe and Robert start with OpenAI and the growing concerns around increasingly capable AI systems. Is it marketing...or theater...or real concerns? The boys lean toward marketing.

Then, OpenWeb launches Reddit-style forums that publishers can build directly into their own sites. For years, publishers watched conversations move from their comment sections to platforms like Reddit and Facebook. With search traffic under pressure, could community once again become one of the most important assets publishers own?

Joe's Marketing Winner: Meta and Muse

Joe gives Meta the win for understanding that AI adoption isn't only a technology problem. It's an emotional one. By associating its AI with a cute, friendly character, Meta is making the technology feel less intimidating and more approachable.

Is it brilliant positioning, or the AI equivalent of putting a cartoon character on a cereal box?

Robert's Marketing Winner: Visit Sweden

Robert gives the win to Visit Sweden and its "Introvert Travel Agency," a campaign built specifically around travelers who would rather avoid crowds, forced social interaction and the traditional tourist experience.

Joe's Commentary: Anthropic, Religion and the Marketing of AI Acceptance

Joe looks at The New York Times report on Anthropic's private meetings with theologians, philosophers and religious thinkers about Claude, morality and the possibility of AI consciousness.

Robert's Rant: The Marketing Engineer

The Wall Street Journal looks at the rise of the "marketing engineer," a title for marketers combining AI, automation and traditional marketing judgment.

OpenAI / Astra safety https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/technology/openai-astra-safety.html

OpenWeb launches forums for publishers https://www.axios.com/2026/09/30/openweb-forums-publishers-reddit

Joe's Marketing Winner: Meta Muse https://www.theverge.com/column/999999/optimizer-meta-muse-ai-cute

Joe's Commentary: Anthropic, Claude and Religion https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/us/anthropic-claude-morals-ai.html

Robert's Marketing Winner: Visit Sweden's Introvert Travel Agency https://adage.com/creativity/work/aa-visit-sweden-introvert-travel-agency/

Robert's Rant: Marketers Are Rebranding as Engineers to Survive the AI Era https://www.wsj.com/cmo-today/marketers-are-rebranding-as-engineers-to-survive-the-ai-era-2938574b

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Get all the show notes: https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/

Get Joe's new book, Burn the Playbook, at http://www.joepulizzi.com/books/burn-the-playbook/ Subscribe to Joe's Newsletter at https://www.thetilt.com/join-tilt-newsletter

Get Robert Rose's new book, Valuable Friction, at https://robertrose.net/valuable-friction/ Subscribe to Robert's Newsletter at https://seventhbearlens.substack.com/

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This Old Marketing is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network: https://www.hubspot.com/podcastnetwork