Episode 2324: Why we need some Sputnik Thinking on Wealth Redistribution in our AI Age

A week is certainly a long time in tech. On last week’s That Was the Week roundup, Keith Teare and I were asking if Trump’s America was a tech oligarchy. This week is all about the so-called “Sputnik Moment” of DeepSeek, a relatively underfunded Chinese AI company which seems to have radically undercut the value of massively financed American AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic. As Keith notes, however, while the commodification of AI through a Chinese startup like DeepSeek is probably inevitable, it doesn’t actually undermine the value of US startups like OpenAI and Anthropic. The real victims of DeepSeek, Keith warns, are big tech corps like Meta and Alphabet which are struggling to monetize AI. While nobody outside Silicon Valley will be shedding tears over the travails of Meta and Alphabet, I what we really need, I think, is some Sputnik thinking about wealth redistribution in our big tech age. And, as we discuss, that might come from a certain Bill Gates who, this week, called for a “robot tax” to fund universal basic income so that citizens will have some protection from the massive jobs losses caused by the AI revolution.

Keith Teare is the founder and CEO of SignalRank Corporation. Previously, he was executive chairman at Accelerated Digital Ventures Ltd., a U.K.-based global investment company focused on startups at all stages. Teare studied at the University of Kent and is the author of “The Easy Net Book” and “Under Siege.” He writes regularly for TechCrunch and publishes the “That Was The Week” newsletter.

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Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.