AI backlash is a crisis of trust, says Anthropic CEO

AI backlash is a crisis of trust, says Anthropic CEO

Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei recently said in a series of posts on X that public hostility toward artificial intelligence reflects a deeper erosion of trust in institutions, rather than safety warnings from industry leaders.

His comments came in response to investor Gavin Baker, who had argued on the All-In podcast and on X that Amodei’s warnings about AI dangers have fuelled opposition to the technology, particularly against data centre construction. Baker urged Amodei to become “a more positive advocate for his own industry.”

Amodei rejected that premise. He said his public writing has been “about equally balanced between risks and benefits” and pointed to his 2024 essay 'Machines of Loving Grace' as evidence that he has championed AI’s potential. But he also acknowledged that AI companies, including Anthropic, have not delivered on their most ambitious promises.

“I think by far the most accurate criticism of AI companies including Anthropic is that we haven’t yet delivered on our big promises to benefit the world,” he wrote. “At this point, saying that AI will cure cancer is more a cliché than it is inspiring. The thing that will work is actually curing cancer.”

Amodei said the public’s negative view of AI is a big problem, but that it is not primarily caused by him or other AI leaders warning about risks. “I think it is fundamentally a crisis of trust,” Amodei wrote. “I think that ordinary people don’t trust companies, governments, or the tech industry and always suspect that we are cooking up some new way to screw them over.”

He also said Anthropic is ramping up work in biology and medicine, promising “incredible results in the coming years and some early glimmers in the coming months.”

The remarks land as Anthropic prepares for a listing that backers expect to value the company at $2 trillion in October, according to tech news website The Next Web. News platform Semafor reported that the company’s revenue grew 14-fold in the second quarter to more than $11.5 billion.