Rapid Recap: Iran, Anthropic vs. Pentagon, Paramount’s win, and more

Summary

Masters of Scale – Rapid Recap: Iran, Anthropic vs. Pentagon, Paramount’s Win, and More

Date: March 3, 2026
Host: Bob Safian (with Alex Morris)

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Episode Overview

This “Rapid Recap” edition of Masters of Scale dives into some of the week’s most buzzworthy business stories. Host Bob Safian and producer Alex Morris discuss the far-reaching consequences of geopolitical upheaval, the ethical high-wire act of AI companies, seismic shifts in tech-enabled layoffs, the high-stakes drama in media acquisitions, and leadership transitions at iconic firms. The episode’s central theme is navigating a world characterized by relentless disruption, “Generation Flux,” and the need for leader-level adaptability and principle-driven leadership.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Geopolitics & Business Uncertainty: Iran Conflict

[02:05–04:22]

• The joint US-Israel attacks on Iran prompt conversation about heightened uncertainty in the global business environment.
• Bob Safian notes the impossibility of predicting specific business impacts:

  “The one clear lesson for all of us is that disruption isn’t slowing down anywhere.” (Bob Safian, 02:22)

• Comparison to other recent global disruptions (tariffs, Supreme Court rulings, advances in AI) illustrates a broader trend: expectations and rules are harder to anchor to.
• The need for adaptability and resisting the urge for snap judgments becomes paramount.

2. Leading Through Chaos: “Generation Flux”

[04:22–05:46]

• Safian revisits his “Generation Flux” concept—originally coined a decade ago—now calling this era “Generation Flux 2.0.”

• “Today we’re all in sort of Generation Flux 2.0... We have to learn to live inside it, be open to more fluid situations and structures and systems… We all need to be entrepreneurial whether we’re entrepreneurs or not.” (Bob Safian, 04:30, 05:03)

• Emphasis on agility, continuous learning (especially with AI), and an entrepreneurial approach even for non-entrepreneurs.

3. Anthropic vs. Pentagon & AI Ethics

[05:46–09:18]

• Anthropic’s withdrawal from a government contract over ethical concerns (AI in surveillance and autonomous drones) contrasts sharply with OpenAI’s eagerness to step in.
• Safian frames this as a classic “flux leadership” moment, where principles are tested:

  “A value isn’t a value until you’re willing to lose something for it. Otherwise, it’s just a preference.” (Alex Morris quoting Ken Frazier, 06:39) “It had a cost, right, and I think it helps define their [Anthropic’s] brand even more strongly than before.” (Bob Safian, 06:55)

• OpenAI's approach is described as more pragmatic and flexible, perhaps personality driven, and more palatable to the Department of Defense.
• The broader takeaway is the necessity for brand and leader clarity on principles in a chaotic climate.

4. AI Polarization & Technology Branding

[09:18–10:27]

• Discussion on whether political tribalism will extend to AI tools (“the left are fans of Claude, the right use OpenAI…”)
• Safian remains skeptical, predicting practicality will win:

  “I don’t think people are going to make their tech tools decisions based on politics. I think they’re going to make them based on which of the tools helps them get the job done best.” (Bob Safian, 09:40)

5. AI-driven Layoffs at Block & the Tech Industry’s Social Responsibility

[10:27–13:19]

• Block’s layoff of 4,000 employees attributed to AI raises larger questions about the nature of tech disruption and job loss.
• Safian cautions against sweeping generalizations: not all AI-related staff reductions are so direct.
• He voices skepticism about Silicon Valley leaders’ social responsibility:

  “There is a race for billions… If there’s collateral damage in that, as they’re growing, I don’t know that they really ultimately make that a priority.” (Bob Safian, 12:18) “For all the billions being invested in AI systems and data centers, how much is being committed to reskilling?” (Bob Safian, 12:57)

6. Media Industry Turbulence: Paramount/Skydance vs. Netflix/Warner

[13:19–15:53]

• Netflix’s surprising decision to bow out of the bidding war for Warner Brothers, leaving the field to Paramount/Skydance.
• Safian praises Netflix’s discipline in not overbidding, and notes Skydance “needed the deal more”:

  “It’s kind of a rare discipline in corporate acquisitions like this for a bidder to just say, you know what, too rich for my blood.” (Bob Safian, 13:42)

• On David Ellison’s ascendant influence:

  “It’s made him a player. I don’t know that I would say he’s the most powerful person in media. I think that will depend on how they execute…” (Bob Safian, 14:51)

• On concern for legacy news brands (CNN, CBS News) after the deal: Safian argues that quality journalism will still matter, even if TV news declines:

  “Professional journalism environments drive the news cycle in so many ways... I tend to believe that at the end of the day, quality journalism will be valued, will be around.” (Bob Safian, 16:14, 17:13)

7. The Changing Media Ownership Landscape: Bezos & The Washington Post

[19:46–22:41]

• Safian expresses disappointment in Jeff Bezos’ stewardship of The Washington Post:

  “I sort of thought that...there would be that much more investment and resources behind great journalism...He hasn’t.” (Bob Safian, 20:10)

• Comparison to other mega-wealthy media owners (Elon Musk, the Ellison family) and reflection on their motives and outcomes:

  “There is some dystopic quality to it...I hope for the best owners with the best intentions in safeguarding our news stories.” (Bob Safian, 21:44)

8. Billionaires and the Space Race: Blue Origin vs. SpaceX

[22:41–23:00]

• Blue Origin’s focus on showmanship (celebrity passengers) versus substantive progress, still lagging behind SpaceX.

• “Blue Origin is not winning in the battle with SpaceX right now. They’re just not. And they need all the buzz they can generate.” (Bob Safian, 22:41)

9. Disney CEO Succession & the New Generation of Leadership

[23:00–25:09]

• Bob Iger’s choice of Josh D’Amaro as Disney’s new CEO reflects a trend of elevated internal leadership.
• Safian sees this as part of a broader generational turnover amid mounting CEO stress:

  “The strains that CEOs have had to manage through over the last five or six years have been so intense… There is a new generation of leadership...I’m not sure who the Bob Iger of the future is going to be.” (Bob Safian, 23:50, 24:30)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

Principles in Practice

“A value isn’t a value until you’re willing to lose something for it. Otherwise, it’s just a preference.”
— Ken Frazier, quoted by Alex Morris (06:39)

On Chaos & Adaptation

“It’s not that I like chaos, it’s just that it’s a reality of the environment. Right? And we have to learn to live in that reality.”
— Bob Safian (05:22)

The Layoff Dilemma

“For all the billions being invested in AI systems and data centers, how much is being committed to reskilling?”
— Bob Safian (12:57)

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Rapid-Fire: “Noise or Legit?”

[25:23–31:00]

• Brad Pitt & Tom Cruise AI video – Noise for now; Hollywood will clamp down, but AI-generated content’s future is “legit.”
• Elon Musk merging xAI and SpaceX – Noise, though financial engineering may influence others; won’t change product quality.
• “Vibe coding” wave – Legit, as AI makes coding increasingly accessible, though quality still needs humans for now.
• Social media on trial – Ultimately noise; court cases alone won’t restrain the social media juggernaut.
• GLP-1 pill breakthrough – Legit, representing genuine scientific and health advances.
• Molt Book, social network for AI agents – Noise (hype story); lesson is to be wary of AI hype.

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Thematic Conclusion

The episode underscores that today’s leaders—whether in tech, media, or any fast-moving sector—must reconcile the tension between agility and principle, hype and substance. Amid relentless change, what endures is clarity about purpose and a willingness to adapt in ways that remain rooted in values, not just business expediency.

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Key Timestamps

• Iran conflict & business impact: [02:05–04:22]
• Generation Flux 2.0: [04:22–05:46]
• Anthropic vs. Pentagon: [05:46–09:18]
• OpenAI philosophy & polarization: [09:18–10:27]
• AI-induced layoffs & tech responsibility: [10:27–13:19]
• Paramount/Skydance vs. Netflix: [13:19–15:53]
• CNN/CBS News & legacy journalism: [15:16–17:38]
• Bezos & Washington Post: [19:46–22:41]
• Billionaires and space: [22:41–23:00]
• Disney succession: [23:00–25:09]
• “Noise or Legit?” segment: [25:23–31:00]

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Final Note

This episode is a must-listen for anyone who wants to stay sharp amid complexity and change, offering real-time analysis of business inflection points, ethical leadership, and the true signals amid the noise.

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Transcript

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[Alex Morris]

I'm Alex Morris, the lead producer here at Rapid Response and I'm joined today by your host of Rapid Response, the voice of the show, Bob Safian. Bob, how are you doing?

[Bob Safian]

I'm good, Alex, thank. It's fun to be doing this a little differently this time.

[Alex Morris]

Absolutely. We are going to be doing something that we're calling the Rapid Recap. This is where we go through the buzziest stories, trends, key indicators from the business world.

[Bob Safian]

Recently. Hit me with what you got.

[Alex Morris]

Well, unfortunately we do have to start with the news. Over the weekend we saw the US and Israel launch joint attacks on Iran, sparking a wider conflict throughout the Middle East. Are there any indications about what impact this could have on the business world?

[Bob Safian]

Yeah. So as I'm sure everybody listening realizes, it's hard to know what the implications from this are going to be in the long run. At this point, what I'd say is the, the one clear lesson for all of us is that disruption isn't slowing down anywhere.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Right.

[Bob Safian]

I mean we saw this with tariffs recently. Right. With the Supreme Court denial, not to mention, you know, advances in AI for, for listeners. We recently had Corey Debra on the show, the bur CEO, former comms chief at Google and Starbucks and Salesforce and he, he started listing all the things that are moving around us these days, you know, all the uncertainties and the ambiguities and, and it can make your head spin, right? And the question sort of becomes right, like, how do we act in a world seemingly without rules? And, and I think that's the question that, that a lot of us are asking ourselves and trying to get, to get comfortable with.

[Alex Morris]

How much of that do you think, though, is acting in a world without rules versus the rules are just going to be changed, There will be new rules?

[Bob Safian]

Well, I guess when you think back to several months ago, where President Trump made it sound like there wasn't going to be any US Involvement in overseas activities, and now we see action in Venezuela and we see action in Iran, and, you know, that's why I sort of say rules, expectations, you know, on all kinds of fronts are, are hard to, are hard to, to anchor on. So I, I caution folks about making, you know, making quick judgments about what the impact of this is going to be on politics, on the economy. You know, this is one of these times where we have to learn to be flexible about it and be on our toes.

[Alex Morris]

When you were back at First Company, you wrote about this idea of Generation Flux. Is this kind of what you're referring to here as well?

[Bob Safian]

Yeah. So this is going back, you know, more than a decade. I, I started writing about this idea of Generation Flux, about sort of a group of people and businesses that were defined not by sort of their, their chronological age, this generation, but more by their ability to deal in a time of chaotic change. I didn't realize how quite precious that was being. But today we're all in sort of generation flux 2.0. And so we have to learn to live inside it, right? To be open to more fluid situations and structures and systems and open to learning new skills with AI and new different kinds of career paths. And, and I think about this as sort of, we all need to be entrepreneurial whether we're entrepreneurs or not, right? We have to have that kind of agility. And as I've talked about this idea of generation flux over the years, one of the questions I get is, like, you talk about chaos so much, like, what do you like about chaos? And my response is, it's not that I like chaos, it's just that it's a reality of the environment. Right? And we have to learn to live in that. In that reality.

[Alex Morris]

I want to move on to the news that we saw come through on Friday. Talks fell through over Anthropic's contract with the government to use their tech. They were concerned about their technology being used for mass surveillance for Autonomous drones, once they pulled out, very quick from Sam Altman and OpenAI to pull in and say, well, we can do that. I'm curious what you think about this story. What does it indicate about Anthropic's brand? Is it good for their brand but bad for their business? What's going on here?

[Bob Safian]

In a lot of ways, we were talking about the idea of generation Flux. I mean, in a lot of ways, this is a sort of quintessential example of flux and what I call flux leadership, because in an environment of chaos and change, what. What anchors us is our principles.

[Alex Morris]

It makes me think of when Ken Frazier was on our show. He said, and I still honestly think about this every week, he said, a value isn't a value until you're willing to lose something for it. Otherwise, it's just a preference.

[Bob Safian]

Yeah. So, so eloquent.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Right.

[Bob Safian]

And I think that's the perspective. That's the step that Anthropic took with the Pentagon. Right. It. It was in service of their business, the choice they made, and it had a cost. Right. And I think it helps define their brand even more strongly than before. OpenAI, different choice reflecting different kinds of principles that will have different implications for their brand and their business over time. They may have more of a business with the federal government going forward. Again, these things, none of these things are secure. The upshot to me is that leaders will face more of these kinds of moments in this environment of chaos and in the future.

[Alex Morris]

Right.

[Bob Safian]

And so as a leader, the lesson to me is be clear about what your own principles are for yourself and for your business, so that when events like this come up, you. You are more comfortable recognizing this is a principal decision, and here are my principles, and here's how I act on it.

[Alex Morris]

Does it concern you about OpenAI, the fact that they were so quick to be like, whatever Anthropic has a problem with, we're cool with. Or is that too simplistic?

[Bob Safian]

I mean, I think, you know, Sam Altman is more comfortable being more fluid around certain kinds of things and having certain kinds of business arrangements that he can move to his advantage, which is not always bad for business. You know, his and OpenAI's contention is that they have the same philosophy about, about autonomous, you know, killing machines and whatnot as, as Anthropic does, and that they are protected on their agreement with the Pentagon. It's. It's hard to know what about this is just sort of two groups getting crossways, which is some of the ways it's being described now as almost personality driven was what the, the breakdown was with, with anthropic. But you know, clearly Sam is more willing to play ball and, and that was more palatable to the Department of Defense, Department of War.

[Alex Morris]

My fear is that in a world right now where everything is being so politicized and polarized, do you think we'll reach a point where the left are fans of Claude, the right use OpenAI and insane people use Grok? You know, where are we?

[Bob Safian]

I don't think people are going to make their tech tools decisions based on politics. I think they're going to make them based on which of the tools they help them get the job done that they need done best. Again, it's more about branding. Who's going to come work for your organization, maybe what kind of sponsors you have if you have that kind of an ad business as OpenAI has. But I think it's more about talent and maybe about, you know, once these companies become public, sort of what kind of multiples they get for their brand. But we're really early in all those days in figuring that out. There's so many things that go into feeding that and this is just, this is just one data point that we're obsessing about now and with good reason but, but it may not be the definitive one.

[Alex Morris]

I want to stay in the world of AI. Last week, fintech firm Block, run by Jack Dorsey, formerly of Twitter, let go of 4,000 staff members out of their 10,000 person workforce. Jack Dorsey in a statement cited the reason being because of gains from AI. Is this a sign of things to come, do you think?

[Bob Safian]

Well, you and I have talked before about whether layoffs attributed to AI are actually one to one. Right. Because AI is doing those jobs as opposed to the result of disruption of which AI is a part of. But this disruption sort of demands a new structure. And I'm not saying that Jack is lying when he points to AI. I'm just not sure that applying this situation to every other business as some news reports worry about, is necessarily apples to apples. It may be that these are one to one jobs at Block, but that doesn't mean that everyone's going to have, you know, a huge layoff spit because of, of AI. I would say that in, in my conversations, I think there are a bunch of tech leaders that ultimately just don't care if jobs go away from AI. I mean some, some of them rationalize that like this always happens with tech waves, but, but many of them are really driven by what's good for Them right there. There is a race for billions, for. For building and owning the next railroads. And if there's collateral damage in that, as they're growing, I don't know that they really ultimately make that a priority. We've seen this kind of thing from Silicon Valley before, even recently, sort of not taking responsibility for the societal impact of tech while enjoying the fruits of it. I remember talking to Mark Zuckerberg in probably 2017, and I asked him about whether as beneficiaries of tech, we have a responsibility to help those being left behind. And he said, yes, that there was, but he certainly didn't commit resources to that the way he did to say, developing the metaverse. Right. So. And we've seen the impact of social media fueled polarization and societal anger and frustration, fear about changes that. That have driven us apart. It's hard not to feel like we're on a similar track with AI, perhaps even on a larger scale. For all the billions being invested in AI systems and data centers, how much is being committed to reskilling? You know, do tech leaders really feel a responsibility to help the overall population win in an AI race, or are they just battling each other to win? And my suspicion is it's more the latter.

[Alex Morris]

I want to move into the media business. Last week, we saw a Netflix bow out of the race for Warner Brothers. If we go back a month, Netflix looked like a sure thing to land the deal. Were you surprised by the outcome?

[Bob Safian]

I was, I was a bit. I mean, it has been a fascinating game to watch. I will say that as it comes to Netflix, I sort of applaud them not getting drawn into bidding too much. It's kind of a rare discipline in corporate acquisitions like this for. For an a bitter to just say, you know what, too rich for my blood. Paramount, Skydance, like, they needed the deal more. This is something we had a discussion a while back with Janice Min at the Ankler, who was explaining like, that Skydance needs the deal. They need the scale to be competitive. Now, that doesn't mean that buying Warner Brothers discovery will turn out to be worth what they're paying for it. You know, and I could see that part of Netflix's calculation is that David Ellison won't be able to make it work and they'll be able to buy what they want later at a better price. Right. The wild cord, of course, is that the Ellison family has so much money, courtesy of Larry Ellison's Oracle fortune. And so anything might happen.

[Alex Morris]

Has this made David Ellison the most powerful person in media?

[Bob Safian]

It's made him a player. I don't know that I would say he's the most powerful person in media. I think that will depend on how they execute, on whether this combination of assets that they brought together really is an effective accumulation and not just a house of brands and a lot of those brands being troubled in different ways.

[Alex Morris]

I'm seeing a lot of people fearful of the fact that part of the deal comes with cnn. You know, we've seen how they've ran CBS News and what's happened over at 60 Minutes. These very small silver lining that I'm holding on to is so I'm 28, very few people I know or younger than me watch TV news. And so the power of CNN and the power of CBS News, I'm trying to just hold on to the fact that may a relic of media at a different time and that's not where people might get our news.

[Bob Safian]

Oh, I, I mean, do I think a lot of people are, are watching TV news and that it's going to be a growing area? No. But I do think that professional journalism environments drive the news cycle in so many ways so that so many of the folks that you're seeing in the channels that you're looking at, they're getting their starting point, their basis from established news channels. Is CNN at risk? I mean, CNN has a devoted audience of a certain kind and it would be bad business for them to disrupt that unless they felt like there was a better audience that they could find in a different way. I don't think they're going to disrupt that just for the purposes of keeping one political party happy or not. I just don't think that will work on a business front. I think they, you know, that's what's going to end up driving ultimately the decisions they make. Now it may be that they decide we don't want to be in the news business as much and pull back resources. And that would certainly be, you know, disappointing. And I know it makes sense for journalists to worry and lament and push back over those things because that's the only way to stay protected in this area. But I tend to believe that at the end of the day, quality journalism will be valued, will be around, and it may not be as big in the buckets as TV news once was, but I still think it will be among the more dominant places that people go to.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

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[Alex Morris]

We saw Jeff Bezos and the Post let go of hundreds of journalists shuttering the sports section, the book section.

[Bob Safian]

Yeah.

[Alex Morris]

Shrinking local and foreign coverage. What does this indicate to you about the media business?

[Bob Safian]

Well, I'll, I'll say that I, I've been, you know, disappointed by the Jeff Bezos era at, at the Washington Post. I, I sort of thought that having, you know, one of the richest people in the world by the Washington Post meant that, that there would be that much more investment and resources behind a great journalism organization. I mean, when I worked at Fast Company, I was fortunate enough to work for a successful business person. One owner, a guy named Joe Mansueto, who was incredibly supportive of our investments in journalism. And Jeff Bezos has way more money than Joe does. And so I was really hoping that he was going to bring that along. He hasn't. It's kind of interesting because when Bezos bought the Post, I sort of thought like this Was his, you know, a way to marry his tech influence with influence through media, which is something that, you know, Elon Musk did by buying Twitter, which seemed crazy at the time, but actually probably has worked out more influential for him in some ways than the post has been for Bezos. And now in this discussion, I guess you sort of have to include the Ellisons who we talked about. Right. As a media influencer alongside tech. I'm not sure who the James Bond villain is in all this, but there is some dystopic quality to it. I hope for the best owners with the best intentions in safeguarding our news stories. That was my experience at Fast Company. It's not at all clear that that's what we're getting from these sort of these mega owners in this way.

[Alex Morris]

Before we move on from Jeff Bezos, you know, Blue Origin, last year he sent up Katy Perry and a few other famous people into the edge of the Earth's atmosphere. I was at a party a few weeks ago and I was speaking to somebody who works as a costume designer here in Hollywood, and she said that she'd worked on the Blue Origin flight. I was asking her, oh, wow, so like, were you having to work with, I don't know, just like the science of spacesuits? And she says to me, like, no, it was just like any other, like, film costume. Which I think was kind of telling in a way.

[Bob Safian]

Blue Origin is not winning in the battle with SpaceX right now. Right? They're just not. And they need all of the buzz that they can generate. But there's a lot of money that's floating around and will float towards space related initiatives. And Blue Origin may, you know, may be one of those players in the long run.

[Alex Morris]

One thing that we've learned is that rich billionaires love space. They love the idea of being the guy to go to space. So one last story in media that I want us to hear is Changeover at Disney. Bob Iger finally picked his replacement, Josh d', Amaro, who was running the theme parks and consumer products division. You know, we had seen so many rumors about who could fill this position. Even friends of the show, Brian Chesky at Airbnb, Andrew Wilson at ea, Jimmy Pitaro at espn. Were you surprised by the decision?

[Bob Safian]

You can't be surprised that, you know, a leader at that level inside would be, would be the choice. Granted the previous, you know, time they tried to succeed Iger with someone from inside, it didn't work out quite the way they wanted. I assume their due diligence this Time around was more intense or had different parameters around it. What I really think of with this changeover at Disney, it makes me think about the changeover that we're seeing across CEOs more broadly. The number of CEOs being replaced in the last year, going way up. The strains that CEOs have had to manage through over the last five or six years have been so intense that, you know, it's not surprising that certain folks are saying, I'm out of here, or that other folks are saying, like, we need someone new or younger, fresher, with more energy to take on, you know, the nonsense and the craziness that that is, that is in the future. There is a new generation of leadership that is coming across corporate America that I'm going to be keeping my eye on that because I, I'm not sure who the, you know, the Bob Iger of the future is going to be. And you know, Bob Iger is a tremendous leader. Is his successor going to be that person or is it going to be someone from somewhere else? That's the sort of the, you know, the parlor game that I'm engaged in out of all of this.

[Alex Morris]

So much of the mission of the show has been about trying to cut through the noise. And, you know, it's so hard nowadays to know what's noise versus what is worth paying attention to.

[Bob Safian]

Yeah.

[Alex Morris]

Which is why I wanted to end on a really quick rapid fire game with you, if that's okay.

[Bob Safian]

Ah, okay, great.

[Alex Morris]

I'm calling it Noise or Legit. I will throw out some fun, buzzy stories of late and I want you to tell me whether it's noise or whether it's legit, meaning there's more of a indication about something that we should be paying attention to for the world ahead.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Okay.

[Bob Safian]

All right, great. Let's do it.

[Alex Morris]

The first one, the viral Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise AI video.

[Bob Safian]

So that was produced by this Chinese, enabled by this Chinese resource, Seed Dance. I think it's probably noise for now. You know, Hollywood is clamping down on that sort of stuff. Guardrails will come in. I mean, what's legit is the long term transformation that AI will enable in, you know, creating compelling content, costs down and broadening creator impact and all of that, but we're not there yet. It's a scare at this point, but it's not legit yet.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

All right.

[Alex Morris]

Elon Musk merging Xai and SpaceX. Noise or legit?

[Bob Safian]

Oh, well, that is noise, but a lot of noise. What I'd say, like this is Financial engineering, it's going to have an impact on how other companies act. It'll give Musk more leeway and flexibility, potentially help him hit some of his enormous personal compensation targets. But like, does it make Tesla a better car? Does it make Starlink a better service? Right, like those are the things that are going to matter in the long run. And, you know, just merging the companies doesn't necessarily do that.

[Alex Morris]

The next one, the Vibe coding wave.

[Bob Safian]

I think vibe coding is totally legit. I mean, especially with the ongoing advances, even the last few months, as you know, Alex, the company that runs rapid response and masterscale. Wait, what? We recently did a three day AI Sprint, right? And folks with no technical background were able to create prototypes in days and hours. Now, what does it take to make those prototypes ready to deploy, especially on mission critical work? Like, I'm not sure vibe coding is yet up to that task without bringing in a quality human engine engineer, human designer to make it feel effective and distinctive. But the tools are getting better, much, much faster. And so it's totally legit.

[Alex Morris]

Social media on trial.

[Bob Safian]

Well, alas, I think I have to say this is noise. I know. I mean, I'm not saying that the social media companies are going to win at trial. They may lose, but they have enough money to pay off what's required. And in the big picture, I kind of think the social media genie is out of the bottle. It would require more aggressive government backed action to really turn things around. I know there are analogies made to cigarette smoking and how the courts help businesses, make businesses more accountable, but this is more nuanced territory. And even cigarette companies, if you notice, they're still around, people are still smoking. I wish I didn't think it was noise, but. But I suspect that in the long run, it may end up being next

[Alex Morris]

one, the introduction of the GLP1 pill.

[Bob Safian]

Oh, so here in New York City, there are these subway ads that a row has up with Charles Barkley and Serena Williams. They're everywhere. They're great. They're not about the pill, but GLP1s are legit. The pills will make them more legit. You know, we had New York Times writer Sarah Cliff on the show earlier this year and we talked about the new food pyramid and new vaccine rules and the Maha movement. And, you know, there are all these things that seem like they're questionable that some people raise about what it's doing to our health. New Surgeon General. But like the GLP1 pills reinforce that science keeps moving forward and that that's really going to the impact. And you can't, you know, look at Charles Barkley on, on, you know, inside the NBA and not say, wow, these things really, really have an impact.

[Alex Morris]

All right, and finally, Malt Book, the social network for AI agents. Noise are legit.

[Bob Safian]

Oh, gosh, I, I love this story because it's noise, right? I mean, there was this great Nick Thompson post, the CEO of the Atlantic, who does, you know, his most important thing in he did this great video debunking, basically explaining why Mult Book wasn't the. The big event that everyone was afraid it was. And so on that end, Molt Book is noise. The legit part is really Nick's post, which is that AI is susceptible to hype. You know, is there going to be a SaaS apocalypse? Software as a service is not going away. The businesses may change, but it's not going to go away. So I feel like finding the hype that is definitely legit. Moat book itself. Yeah, it was nice.

[Alex Morris]

Well, Bob, as always, thank you so much for going through all this with me. Happy March. And here's to another month of the show.

[Bob Safian]

Well, thanks, Alex. Alex. Always fun. Always fun. Rapid response is a. Wait. What? Original. I'm Bob Safian. Our executive producer is Eve Trow. Our producer is Alex Morris. Associate producer is Mashimaku Tonina. Mixing and mastering by Aaron Beck Bastinelli. Our theme music is by Ryan Holiday. Our head of podcasts is Lital Milad. For more, visit rapidresponseshow.com.