Axios CEO: How to Get Ahead of Everyone Who's Using AI
Sep 19, 2026 · 59:24
Jim VandeHei, Co-Founder and CEO of Axios and Co-Founder of Politico, argues the open web will largely die within 2 to 5 years as LLMs from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google become the main way people get information. Once everyone has Einstein-level AI, he says, unique human-created content will soar in value, benefiting creators with direct audience relationships or niche domain expertise. He predicts courts will settle LLM compensation within 1 to 4 years and reveals Axios's 'local super system,' which uses AI to automate non-journalism work and expand local news across America's roughly 10,000 cities. He credits co-founders Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz, and promotes his book Simplify, which argues we waste at least 25% of every week—2.5 years per decade—on work that never needed doing.
