Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei just pushed back hard against Trump's AI czar David Sacks, who's been hammering the company as 'woke' and accused it of regulatory capture. In a carefully worded statement Tuesday, Amodei insisted the AI startup shares the same goals as the Trump administration and wants to work together on American AI leadership.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei just fired his biggest shot yet in the escalating war of words with Trump's AI czar. After days of withering attacks from venture capitalist David Sacks, Amodei released a pointed statement Tuesday addressing what he called "inaccurate claims" about the company's policy positions.
The dispute exploded into public view last week when Sacks tore into Anthropic over a policy essay by co-founder Jack Clark titled "Technological Optimism and Appropriate Fear." Sacks didn't hold back, posting on X that the company is "running a sophisticated regulatory capture strategy based on fear-mongering" and is "principally responsible for the state regulatory frenzy that is damaging the startup ecosystem."
That's heavy artillery aimed at one of AI's biggest players. Anthropic has rocketed to an $18.3 billion valuation since its 2021 founding by former OpenAI executives who left over safety concerns. The company sits at the center of the AI boom, competing directly with OpenAI's ChatGPT with its Claude assistant.
Amodei's response was diplomatically worded but unmistakably defensive. "I fully believe that Anthropic, the administration, and leaders across the political spectrum want the same thing: to ensure that powerful AI technology benefits the American people and that America advances and secures its lead in AI development," he said in his statement.
The CEO insisted his company is aligned with the Trump administration across "key areas of AI policy" and wants to work with "anyone serious about getting this right." It's a clear attempt to defuse what's become an embarrassing public spat for a company trying to position itself as a responsible AI leader.
But Sacks wasn't backing down. In Monday's X exchange with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who jumped in to defend Anthropic as "one of the good guys," Sacks escalated further. He accused the company of pushing "Anthropic's agenda to backdoor Woke AI and other AI regulations through Blue states like California."
