The CEO of a Silicon Valley Trillion-Dollar Company is Actually a 'Two-Faced Doomsday Prophet'?!
In recent days, a bombshell long-form article by The Information has almost exposed Dario Amodei completely.
Over the course of 42 days, reporter Cory Weinberg interviewed his subordinates, competitors, and investors, ultimately piecing together a highly dramatic 'dual persona'—
On one hand, he repeatedly warns that AI could destroy humanity; on the other, he personally presses the accelerator, betting on the accelerated arrival of the 'singularity.'
Afraid of AI, yet heavily betting on AI. Which side of Dario Amodei is the real one?
Side A: AI Could Lead to Human Extinction
Earlier this year, the public opinion environment surrounding AI hit rock bottom, with public hostility and fear towards the technology reaching a peak.
At a core closed-door meeting at Anthropic, attending board members suggested:
Anthropic should leverage its immense industry influence to launch a public relations 'charm offensive', just as Microsoft, Meta, and even Google did in the past.
For example, focus on promoting AI's tremendous potential in areas like discovering new cancer drugs and curing rare diseases—efforts that benefit humanity.
The moment the suggestion was made, Dario, sitting at one end of the long table, did not hesitate and vetoed the proposal on the spot—
People in the past indeed did things that way, but this time, we are facing a real 'existential crisis.'
The final direction not only lacked compromise but veered to the opposite extreme.
During the highly anticipated World Cup matches, Anthropic's advertisement suddenly flashed a series of dark, oppressive scenes: a row of cold, dim tombstones appeared in the center of the screen.
Anthropic was implying that AI could kill everyone!
Fear of AI: A Decade-Long Concern
Over the past decade, Dario Amodei has been consistently focused on safety.
As early as 2017, when the world was still immersed in the mobile internet, Dario Amodei warned about the safety crisis that AGI could bring.
In 2018, while everyone was cheering the emerging capabilities of OpenAI's models, Dario displayed an almost neurotic sense of precaution.
At that time, he pushed through against all odds to enforce an ironclad rule that seemed out of place:
All of OpenAI's core research must undergo a rigorous 'information hazard' assessment before publication to prevent technical details from leaking to competitors.
This nearly harsh level of caution once left OpenAI colleagues feeling suffocated.
In 2019, Microsoft was preparing to inject a life-saving $1 billion into OpenAI, which was running low on funds.
However, Amodei's safety team forcibly pressed pause on this critical financing negotiation for several months.
The reason—concern that GPT-3, which had not yet completed training, could evolve into a runaway AGI.
Colleagues at the time even privately mocked Dario Amodei's department as being like 'a self-righteous priesthood monopolizing the truth.'
Computers Disconnected from the Internet, Documents Hand-Delivered
Even more interesting, for the sake of secrecy, Dario Amodei rejects any connection to the external internet.
In his San Francisco apartment, he refuses to use any computer connected to the external internet.
All core memos are completed on a completely 'air-gapped' computer.
After writing, they are not uploaded to the cloud or sent via email. Instead, they are printed directly onto paper and then 'physically' carried to the office for distribution to the team.
This almost paranoid 'bunker mentality' reached its peak in 2020.
Ultimately, due to ideological differences, he led a team to leave OpenAI and founded Anthropic.
In the eyes of the founding team, Sam Altman, who pursued rapid commercialization, was leading humanity towards a cliff.
This trauma solidified into a unique cohesion within Anthropic. Employees even privately jokingly refer to this extreme vigilance towards their former employer as 'Sama Derangement Syndrome.'
Today, the mindset of being on high alert within Anthropic leaves outsiders puzzled.
Side B: The 'Singularity' Resides in His Mind
Anthropic's investors have a private assessment that has almost become a consensus: 'He is more like a religious leader than a CEO.'
Dario rarely gets involved in daily management. Compensation, organizational structure, personnel adjustments—almost everything is left to his sister, Daniela.
As for himself, he turns his gaze into a lighthouse, scanning every corner of the company.
Recently, the lighthouse shone upon the internal team of economists. They used rough mathematical models to assess the potential impact of the 'singularity':
A slow singularity might only contribute 0.5 percentage points to U.S. economic growth, with employment remaining stable; a fast singularity could contribute 4 percentage points while significantly increasing unemployment.
After listening, Dario simply said one thing: That's about what I had in mind.
When employees talk about Dario Amodei, it's like discussing a mystic. 'He can foresee the future,' one person said. 'He has the singularity in his mind,' another remarked.
His twice-monthly all-hands meetings are referred to as the 'Dario Amodei Vision Tour.' During these meetings, he opens a wide-ranging document and shares candid views on AI, politics, war, and society.
On Slack, he is direct and engages in discussions as a peer, which feels approachable and has instead fostered an almost religious-like loyalty.
This leadership style is almost an anomaly in Silicon Valley. Most CEOs are trained to be 'growth machines,' whereas Dario is more like a 'god' who has lived his life as a safety doctrine.
This unique leadership style has constructed a 'temple'-like organizational culture within Anthropic.
Talented employees come here to work not just for million-dollar salaries but to practice the shared belief of 'saving humanity' in a world tainted by capital.
Commercial companies drive employees with KPIs, whereas the temple uses only faith.
$47 Billion in Annual Revenue
Investors Fear He Doesn't Care About Money
On the path to the singularity, Anthropic has created a business miracle bordering on myth—
Founded only 5 years ago, with just over 3,000 employees, its current valuation has reached $965 billion.
Based on a valuation of about $4.1 billion in May 2023, in just three short years, the valuation has skyrocketed to about 235 times the original figure.
This number has already surpassed the database giant Oracle, which has stood for nearly half a century.
Consider a highly dramatic comparison: As of the end of May 2026, Oracle boasts about 141,000 employees; whereas Anthropic has only 2-3% of that number.
Today's Anthropic has achieved the fastest revenue growth rate in history.
But bizarrely, the top investors preparing to make a fortune in the upcoming IPO show no joy on their faces. Instead, they are trembling with fear.
'What I fear most is that he simply doesn't care about money.'
A senior Silicon Valley investor who researched Anthropic early on wrote this in his notes.
Another public fund manager planning to heavily invest in its IPO sighed almost pleadingly after a meeting: 'For heaven's sake, can he please stop scaring everyone?'
Remember, sitting across from Dario are capital behemoths accustomed to measuring everything by growth rates, profits, and valuations, wielding hundreds of billions in funds.
Yet, what Dario most loves to discuss with them is not Anthropic's business blueprint, but the 'probability of AI destroying humanity.'
Pressing the Accelerator While Looking for the Brake: A High-Stakes Bet Concerning the Fate of All Humanity
To prevent AI from destroying the world, one must personally step in to create the most powerful AI—
This is the most chilling paradox about Dario.
Since the train heading towards the 'singularity' cannot be stopped, he would rather keep the steering wheel firmly in the hands of a 'doomsday believer' like himself than hand it over to a 'madman' running at full speed.
Thus, we witness the most schizophrenic scene in tech history: He is attempting to驾驭驾驭 (operate) a wildly spinning money-printing machine using the methods of building a temple.
But the ultimate demand of capital is endless growth.
When the frenzy of a trillion-dollar market cap and ASI arrive simultaneously, can this 'Doomsday Prophet' still rein in the behemoth he personally nurtured?
The believers are betting, and so is the capital.
And all of us have already been pulled onto this high-stakes table with no way out.
References:
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/dario-amodei-spread-anthropics-religion-stirred-silicon-valley
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-listen-to-the-story-84532929/episode/can-anthropic-win-the-ai-race-276045535/
This article is from the WeChat public account "新智元" (New Zhi Yuan), author: ASI启示录, editor: David 桃子
