OpenAI and Anthropic are locked in a high stakes rivalry, and the fallout is hurting public trust in AI overall. In this episode, the "We Fixed It, You're Welcome" panel (Aaron Wolpoff, Melissa Eaton, and Chino) sits down with veteran tech PR strategist Perry Headrick to unpack whether the ChatGPT vs Claude rivalry is a branding win or a trust disaster. With over 20 years of experience representing brands like AOL, Bing, Yelp, and Logitech, Perry brings sharp, no nonsense insight into why both AI giants are missing the mark with everyday users, and what they need to do to fix it.
Guest Bio
Perry Headrick is the founder of Crackle PR, a B2B tech focused communications agency working with startups through publicly traded companies. He also co-hosts the Under Embargo podcast alongside Becca Chambers, CMO at Scale Ventures. Perry brings decades of experience in media strategy, reputation management, and crisis control.
Key Topics Discussed
Why only 17% of Americans trust the people running major AI companies, and 40% consider them untrustworthy
The origin of the OpenAI vs Anthropic rivalry, born from a philosophical split within OpenAI
How the Super Bowl ad wars and competitive digs are backfiring on both brands
The psychology of "AI dread" and why fear, not excitement, dominates public perception
Why AI companies make themselves the star instead of the customer
Perry's real world examples: turning heads at a local Chinese restaurant with an AI generated photo, and using AI to pick better golf clubs
The case for radical transparency over "promiseware" and vague grandiosity
Why sycophantic AI responses (agreeing with everything, false reassurances) erode user trust
The Claude broken links example and why owning limitations matters more than smoothing them over
Reddit and AMAs as an underused trust building tool
Are OpenAI and Anthropic "too big to fail," or heading toward a Yahoo vs Google outcome
Why competing companies dragging each other down risks making the entire AI category look unsafe
DuckDuckGo's rise as a case study in giving users control (the option to turn AI off)
Connect with Perry Headrick
LinkedIn: Perry Headrick
Podcast: Under Embargo (co-hosted with Becca Chambers, CMO at Scale Ventures)
Website: cracklepr.com
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Disclaimer
A quick disclaimer. We are going into this somewhat cold and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice or anything that would get us in trouble. These are our views and opinions. We’re here to ask the kinds of questions everyone’s thinking, have an engaging conversation and maybe come to some conclusions that we feel are worth exploring.
By the end, if we fixed it, you’re welcome. All trademarks, IP and brand elements discussed are property of their respective owners.
