Episode 2217: Why Google should hire Chris Lehane, Silicon Valley's Master of the Message

Keen On

It’s been a strange week in tech. The Nobel prizes in both Chemistry and Physics went to prominent former or current Googlers, and yet the tech news cycle has been dominated by the U.S. government’s intent to break up a seemingly prostrate Google. Keith Teare and Andrew, in their regular That Was The Week summary of tech news, discuss Google’s failure to present itself in the United States as the motor of American economic innovation. OpenAI has stolen that mantle, Keith suggests, which may be why the editorial in his newsletter this week is about OpenAI’s trillion dollar opportunity. Google’s messaging is off, Keith suggests, which is why they might consider hiring Chris Lehane, the subject of an intriguing New Yorker piece on Silicon Valley’s new master of the political message. The only problem is that Lehane is Sam Altman’s new messaging man at OpenAI. Perhaps Altman should use ChatGPT to create a Lehane bot, which they could then sell, for billions of dollars, to Big Tech rivals like Google, Amazon and Microsoft.

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.

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.

Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe