In November 2016, Dario Amodei urged OpenAI to cut financial ties with initial backer Peter Thiel following Thiel’s $1.25 million contribution to Donald Trump's presidential campaign. OpenAI leader Sam Altman rejected the request, maintaining ties with Thiel as internal governance disputes deepened over the management of the GPT project. Amodei and his colleagues eventually resigned in December 2020, founding Anthropic four weeks later amid ongoing friction over leadership and political influence. More recently, Amodei voiced fierce ethical objections to OpenAI president Greg Brockman donating $25 million to a pro-Trump super PAC.
Key points
Ideological and political disagreements over venture backers contributed to the executive…: Ideological and political disagreements over venture backers contributed to the executive schism that led directly to Anthropic's formation.
Despite past ethical objections to Peter Thiel's politics, Anthropic accepted major insti…: Despite past ethical objections to Peter Thiel's politics, Anthropic accepted major institutional funding from his firm, Founders Fund.
Founders Fund currently holds financial stakes in both competing AI giants as Anthropic p…: Founders Fund currently holds financial stakes in both competing AI giants as Anthropic prepares for a public Nasdaq listing.
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Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei once wanted
OpenAI to stop taking money from billionaire investor Peter Thiel. The trigger was the $1.25 million Thiel gave to support Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, a move Amodei said made him “morally worthy of condemnation.” At the time, Amodei was a few months into his job at OpenAI, where he led the safety team. He posted the remarks on the company’s internal messaging app, according to a report by The New York Times.
Thiel’s money found its way to Amodei anyway, a decade later. Founders Fund, the venture capital firm Thiel co-founded, made its first direct investment in Anthropic in February this year. It co-led a $30 billion funding round that valued the company at $380 billion, and reportedly put in about $1.25 billion of its own. The firm is an OpenAI investor too, which gives it a stake in both rival labs.
Amodei's Peter Thiel remarks came days after 2016 United States elections
Three days after Trump won the US presidential election in November 2016, Amodei posted on OpenAI's internal chat that he…
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