Two views of agents, ways to win in India, dreams of an AI distribution platform

Welcome to Zero Shot, where Brady, Praveen, and Rohin comment on the big ideas and latest developments in artificial intelligence for The Ken.This week, Brady unpacks how two popular agents for software engineering represent opposing visions of working with AI. Claude Code’s more human-like way of engaging gives users a vastly different experience from the “all business, all the time” approach in OpenAI Codex. Find out how this divergence reflects Anthropic and OpenAI’s different goals.Also narrating how the two companies are locking horns, Praveen talked about OpenAI going after government partnerships and consumer adoption in India, while Anthropic is pursuing contracts with enterprises and startups. Anthropic, in particular, has been on a charm offensive in the country, but one public event led to backlash.Rohin picked up a listener’s suggestion to explore whether OpenAI can weaponise its 800 million active users and Apps SDK to become a distribution channel for everyone else. Listen to the hosts analyse the situation from different perspectives.This episode of Zero Shot was mixed and mastered by Rajiv CN, The Ken’s resident sound engineer.Send us your critiques and ideas, or just say hi by dropping a note at [email protected]. *Fancy yourself joining the Zero Shot team?Brady, Praveen, and Rohin are looking for a researcher-producer to join Zero Shot. You must be super interested in AI, business, and tech. You need to be incredibly intellectually agile. You should be comfortable working with all three of us, each with our own interests and idiosyncrasies. You would help us research, schedule, produce, and even publish columns and podcasts. You should forecast the puck even better than us.We’re looking for young and ambitious people with 1–3 years of experience. Write to [email protected] with a note introducing yourself and why we should email you back for a conversation. If you don’t hear from us, it’s because we weren’t convinced.The role will be full-time and based in Bengaluru.*Bonus Reading:Inside Nandan Nilekani’s exclusive Koramangala dinner for Anthropic CEO Dario Amodeihttps://www.moneycontrol.com/artificial-intelligence/inside-nandan-nilekani-s-exclusive-koramangala-dinner-for-anthropic-ceo-dario-amodei-article-13611458.html Vibe engineeringhttps://simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/7/vibe-engineering/“Maybe this could be the topic of your next zero-shot?”https://x.com/lazy_proc/status/1975808361917784168How Apple Got Everything Right By Doing Everything Wronghttps://www.wired.com/2008/03/how-apple-got-everything-right-by-doing-everything-wrong/OpenAI offers free ChatGPT licences. Schools see hidden costshttps://the-ken.com/story/openai-offers-free-chatgpt-licences-schools-see-hidden-costs/Radhika Dani's posthttps://x.com/theproductwoman/status/1976235987736092963"It would have been a different story saying that it was a game of luck to get in but that wasn’t the case here"https://x.com/zaidmukaddam/status/1977061060525129827"This guy's so bored he's watching Cricket at the Anthropic Accel event in BLR."https://x.com/1littlecoder/status/1977002078490042375