Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei has rejected claims that his warnings about artificial intelligence have helped create a public backlash against the technology.
Amodei was responding to investor Gavin Baker, who argued that cautionary messaging from AI leaders had contributed to opposition in the United States, particularly around data centres. Baker said Amodei had lost the argument on AI regulation and should become a more positive advocate for the industry.
Anthropic has supported some AI regulation, including a California bill that would require large AI companies to meet transparency obligations. But Baker argued that, as Amodei prepares to lead one of the world’s most consequential companies, he should place greater emphasis on the technology’s benefits.
In response, Amodei said his public messaging had been balanced between AI’s risks and potential benefits. He pointed to his essay, Machines of Loving Grace, as an effort to describe a more inspiring case for how AI could improve the world.
He acknowledged that public attitudes towards AI are negative and said that posed a serious problem. But he rejected the suggestion that concerns about the technology are primarily the result of leaders speaking openly about its risks.
Instead, Amodei described the backlash as a wider crisis of trust. He argued that many people do not trust companies, governments or the technology industry, and often assume that new technologies will be used against their interests.
For Amodei, the more serious criticism of AI companies is not their messaging but their record. He said companies, including Anthropic, have not yet delivered on their broad promises to benefit the public, and that this failure rests with the industry itself.
He also pushed back against the idea that regulation necessarily concentrates AI power in the hands of a small number of companies. Amodei said this presents a false choice between unrestricted distribution of AI and rules that protect dominant firms.
While acknowledging that regulation can be poorly designed, he said many people see it as a way to constrain corporate power and protect ordinary citizens. Anthropic, he added, has tried to support policies that place greater limits on frontier AI companies while giving smaller competitors room to develop.
