A zebra-striped dinosaur, AI giants colonising the world, and Tiktok’s deal in the US

Welcome to the first episode of Zero Shot, The Ken’s podcast on artificial intelligence.Hosts Brady, Praveen, and Rohin connect from Hong Kong and Bengaluru—braving a typhoon—to dive into the big ideas shaping the world of AI.In this debut episode, the hosts explore the provocative analogy of whether the world’s biggest AI companies are using the colonial playbook to enter markets like India, and whether India risks becoming a “DAU factory”.The conversation covers a report by Anthropic that reveals some surprising facts about high- and low-adoption countries.They also break down the latest revelations about the deal for Tiktok’s US operations.Wondering about the brontosaurus with black and white stripes? Click play to find out what he’s called and why he is Zero Shot’s mascot.This episode of Zero Shot was mixed and mastered by Rajiv CN, The Ken’s resident sound engineer.If you liked this podcast, share it with anyone who might also enjoy it. To get in touch with the hosts, write them at [email protected]. Disclaimer: Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an investor in The Ken.Bonus Reading:Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists — The AI Raj: How tech giants are recolonizing powerhttps://thebulletin.org/2025/09/the-ai-raj-how-tech-giants-are-recolonizing-power/The Economist — AI is erupting in Indiahttps://www.economist.com/asia/2025/09/17/ai-is-erupting-in-indiaThe Ken — India goes from free internet to free AIhttps://the-ken.com/columns/zero-shot/india-goes-from-free-internet-to-free-ai/The Guardian — The inside story of Facebook’s biggest setbackhttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/12/facebook-free-basics-india-zuckerbergFinancial Times — EU to block Big Tech from new financial data sharing systemhttps://www.ft.com/content/6596876f-c831-482c-878c-78c1499ef543India Today — India picks 8 firms, including IIT Bombay, to build a massive 1 trillion parameter AI modelhttps://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/india-picks-8-firms-including-iit-bombay-to-build-a-massive-1-trillion-parametre-ai-model-2789824-2025-09-19Anthropic Economic Index report: Uneven geographic and enterprise AI adoptionhttps://www.anthropic.com/research/anthropic-economic-index-september-2025-reportWall Street Journal — Deal to Keep TikTok in US Is Near. These Are the Details.https://www.wsj.com/tech/tiktok-deal-us-china-details-b383abe4