Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has expressed no regrets about leaving OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, stating he is comfortable with the growing rivalry between the two AI companies. In an interview with Bloomberg's The Circuit with Emily Chang, Amodei argued that the market and public opinion will ultimately determine which approach proves more successful.
Amodei on Leaving OpenAI
Amodei reflected on his departure from OpenAI in 2020, when he, his sister Daniela Amodei, and several other employees left to launch Anthropic. "At the end of the day, why argue with someone when you don't have the same vision and you don't trust them?" he said, explaining his exit. "The way to resolve it is you go off and do your thing, they go off and do their thing. And I am completely at peace with the idea that we're doing things our way and they're doing things their way," he added.
Rivalry and Public Opinion
Amodei said the outcome of the rivalry should be judged by results rather than public disagreements. "We'll see who wins in the market and we'll see who wins in the court of public opinion. I think those things speak louder than any drama about why who left what," he added.
Renewed Attention on Split
The circumstances surrounding Amodei's departure from OpenAI have received renewed attention following a recent report by The New Yorker that examines questions about trust and leadership at the company. The report cited notes Amodei took during his time working with Altman. The rivalry between the two AI firms has become increasingly visible in recent months. Earlier this year, Altman suggested that comments from Anthropic had contributed to tensions surrounding OpenAI. "I think the doomerism talk hasn't helped. I think the way certain other labs talk about us hasn't helped," Altman said during an April episode of the Core Memory podcast. "I think the way Anthropic talks about OpenAI doesn't help."
India AI Summit Incident
Amodei also addressed a widely discussed moment at the India AI Summit, in which he and Altman appeared reluctant to participate in a public show of unity with other technology leaders.
Trust in AI Industry
During the interview, Amodei argued that cooperation on AI safety should be led by organisations he considers trustworthy rather than relying on consensus across the entire industry. "What I think needs to happen is that the trustworthy actors need to get together and put the untrustworthy actors in a position where they kind of have to adopt the same standards," he said. "With a lot of experience, I've learned that there are some folks who don't do the right thing on their own, but if there's a majority of the industry that's doing the right thing, then I think the rest of the industry is kind of — they're left in a position where there's not much they can do," Amodei explained.
Collaboration with Competitors
At the same time, Amodei rejected the idea that distrust is universal across the AI sector. He pointed to his long-standing relationship with Demis Hassabis as an example of collaboration between competing AI organisations. "I've known him for 15 years. We've worked together on a number of issues. We buy compute from Google. We swap safety ideas all the time. So my view of this is that one, there are some players who are more trustworthy than others, and I think there are players outside Anthropic who I trust, who I see as trustworthy," Amodei added.
