Zeta Global co-founders David A. Steinberg and John Sculley join ‘The Claman Countdown’ to discuss the artificial intelligence industry’s safety concerns and the ‘Day After’ scenario reported by Axios.
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What John Sculley said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
John Sculley, Vice Chairman of RxAdvance and co-founder of Zeta Global, said he had not seen the Axios report about AI companies preparing for a catastrophic 'day after' event and called it 'a big exaggeration' from anything he was aware of. He noted that many smart people run AI companies and that more detail is needed on who is making these claims. On token costs, Sculley argued that the current high prices are temporary, as open-source alternatives will drive prices down significantly, and the market will sort it out. He referenced Jensen Huang's recent statement that 'the real internet economy is about to begin,' which Sculley said Zeta Global is part of, highlighting the inference layer and the company's unique customer intent database. He praised David Steinberg's leadership and partnerships with companies like Palantir.
Key takeaways
Sculley dismissed the Axios report on AI doomsday preparation as a 'big exaggeration' and said he was not aware of it.
Sculley predicted token prices will drop significantly due to open-source alternatives, so the market will resolve the cost issue.
Sculley cited Jensen Huang's comment that 'the real internet economy is about to begin,' positioning Zeta Global in the inference layer.
Sculley highlighted Zeta Global's unique customer intent database as a competitive advantage no other company has.
Sculley praised David Steinberg's leadership and partnerships, including with Palantir.
1:10That now raises a critical question for businesses: how do you harness A.I.'s good power while protecting sensitive data and keeping systems and people secure?
1:41companies are huddling together or separately working on — what do you think of this Axios report?
5:10You know, listen, we had some of the most amazing people in the world, but what really matters is: can we convert that event into massive business increments and continue to grow our business very fast and more profitably than even before?
5:34So how does Athena OS deal with that situation, and maybe smooth over some of the rough, expensive edges?
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We've been talking about this. Some say that fears A.I. will destroy humanity are totally ridiculous, but the companies at the forefront apparently do not think so. According to an Axios report out today, industry leaders and rivals including Anthropic and OpenAI are quietly gaming out what happens the day after a catastrophic A.I. event, including public backlash, a possible revolt, and calls for tougher regulations. The piece notes that these leaders are anticipating a 'large-scale event' — and not a good one — that shuts down access to financial services, internet connectivity, and extremely important services like power and water.
That now raises a critical question for businesses: how do you harness A.I.'s good power while protecting sensitive data and keeping systems and people secure? Joining me now in a Fox Business exclusive are the founders of Zeta Global, an intelligent A.I. infrastructure company that uses artificial intelligence and consumer data to help companies better understand their customers and personalize their marketing. Former Apple CEO John Sculley and David Steinberg are here.
John, this day-after preparation that Axios is talking about, that the A.I. companies are huddling together or separately working on — what do you think of this Axios report?
Okay, well I'm telling you this is what it says: that these guys are so concerned that they are actually putting together a so-called day-after report that could involve a large-scale revolt of humanity against A.I.
I think that's a big exaggeration from anything that I'm aware of. You've got a lot of really smart people running A.I. companies, and I think that we need to see a little more detail of who's claiming to make these issues. I'm not aware of it. Obviously, we've seen a lot about what could happen if something went wrong with A.I. and it started operating on its own without human assistance, but I don't even know if that's what you're talking about.
David, let me get to you because you are in business with a lot of the companies that are purportedly talking about this and preparing for it. Does this surprise you? Have they included you in these discussions?
We spend a lot of time with these guys, Liz, as we've discussed, and I would say that it is possible that they're talking about scenarios where there could be circumstances where if an A.I. was to get out and off its rails, how they would control it. I'd be quite frankly shocked if it went as far as this, because I don't think they believe this is going to lead to this. I mean, it's just not the conversations we're having about A.I. Most of the conversations we're having about A.I. is how it can make humanity a better place. But as John said, I haven't seen the report. If it does exist, or if this work is going on, I'm not personally aware of it.
David, let me keep going with you, because one of the things that they say could be this so-called doomsday event is a cybersecurity breach of some sort that is on a mass scale. You guys secure customers' data, and it's critical for the models that Zeta just unveiled with the new intelligence operating system called Athena OS. How does it simplify the workflow while keeping customer data safe, and customers among them BMW, TJX?
51% of the Fortune 100 trust us with their data, Liz, and we take that very, very seriously. I had Alex Karp at our conference yesterday. Palantir is one of our biggest global partners, and data sovereignty and security is pretty much all we talked about, and it's what we are laser-focused on. When you look at Athena OS, it's the first really true enterprise operating system that uses data and artificial intelligence at its core to allow decisions to make the next decisions smarter. How does inventory manage marketing, marketing then manage logistics, logistics manage manufacturing in ways that make everything real-time and make every single decision smart.
9 more exchanges in this transcript
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Sculley, J. (2026, October 9). AI companies prepare for the ‘DAY AFTER’: Report [Interview transcript]. Fox Business. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3032845/
MLA
John Sculley. "AI companies prepare for the ‘DAY AFTER’: Report." Fox Business, 9 Oct. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3032845/.
BibTeX
@misc{sculley2026_3032845,
author = {John Sculley},
title = {AI companies prepare for the ‘DAY AFTER’: Report},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Fox Business. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {oct},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3032845/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
