Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei is not happy with OpenAI chief Sam Altman. In a memo to staff, Amodei referred to OpenAI’s dealings with the Department of Defense as “safety theater.” He wrote that the main reason OpenAI accepted the deal and Anthropic did not is that they cared about placating employees, while Anthropic actually cared about preventing abuses.
Last week, Anthropic and the U.S. Department of Defense failed to come to an agreement over the military’s request for unrestricted access to the AI company’s technology. Anthropic, which already had a two hundred million dollar contract with the military, insisted the DoD affirm that it would not use the company’s AI to enable domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry. Instead, the DoD struck a deal with OpenAI. Sam Altman stated that his company’s new defense contract would include protections against the same red lines that Anthropic had asserted.
In a letter to staff, Amodei refers to OpenAI’s messaging as “straight up lies,” stating that Altman is falsely presenting himself as a peacemaker and dealmaker. Amodei might not be speaking solely from a position of bitterness. Anthropic specifically took issue with the DoD’s insistence on the company’s AI being available for “any lawful use.” OpenAI said in a blog post that its contract allows use of its AI systems for “all lawful purposes.” That post stated it was clear in their interaction that the DoD considers mass domestic surveillance illegal and was not planning to use it for this purpose, and that they ensured this was made explicit in the contract.
Critics have pointed out that the law is subject to change, and what is considered illegal now might end up being allowed in the future. The public seems to be siding with Anthropic. ChatGPT uninstalls jumped two hundred ninety-five percent after OpenAI made its deal with the DoD.
Amodei wrote to his staff that he thinks this attempted spin is not working very well on the general public or the media, where people mostly see OpenAI’s deal as sketchy or suspicious, and see Anthropic as the heroes. He noted they are now number two in the App Store. He stated it is working on some people online, which does not matter, but his main worry is how to make sure it does not work on OpenAI employees.