NY Post Report Targets Anthropic's Handpicked AI Safety Watchers Over EA Ties
A New York Post report alleged that AI safety supervisors handpicked by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei are deeply tied to the Effective Altruism movement, with critics calling the arrangement "a complete joke"; the report also described his safety team as "super-woke globalists." The piece spread widely across the AI community and reignited friction between safety advocates and critics.
Confirmed
- The NY Post report targeted Anthropic's personnel arrangements, claiming Amodei's chosen AI overseers are deeply bound to the EA movement.
- It also raised questions about the independence of evaluator METR; MATS lead So8res reshared a response.
- NYT reporter Mike Isaac commented that questioning METR's independence is fair, but placing such content in the NY Post struck him as amusing, wondering what the tabloid's readers make of METR evaluations.
- Multiple sharers (e.g., @venturetwins, @NicoVerderosa) reacted with sarcasm or concern, lamenting that people genuinely working on AI safety were being attacked.
Why it matters
- The episode exposes a core tension in AI safety governance: Anthropic choosing its own overseers looks lacking in independence to critics, while EA backgrounds invite ideological labels.
- The choice of outlet (tabloid NY Post rather than tech media) was seen by observers as an influence operation against Anthropic, showing AI safety increasingly entangled in US political and media warfare.
2026-09-16 ~ 2026-09-17 · 5 related posts
- Episode 1: Debate Rages Over Antitrust Waivers for AI Safety Collaboration(2026-09-13, 6 posts)
- Episode 2: AI Slowdown Signals from Top Lab CEOs Spark Bubble Fears(2026-09-13, 4 posts)
- Episode 3: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei Says He'd Hand the Company to the Right Combination of Governments(2026-09-13, 9 posts)
- Episode 4: Dario's 'Hand Over Anthropic' Remark Taken Out of Context: He Meant Joint Oversight(2026-09-14, 2 posts)
- Episode 5: OpenAI, Anthropic and Google in Talks to Form Industry-Led AI Standards Body(2026-09-14, 10 posts)
- Episode 6: Dario's Call to Slow Frontier AI Sparks Global Governance Debate(2026-09-14, 39 posts)
- Episode 7: AI Executives Call to Slow Development, AI Stocks Plunge Worldwide(2026-09-14, 7 posts)
- Episode 8: AI CEOs' Calls to Slow Down Draw Media Skepticism(2026-09-14, 4 posts)
- Episode 9: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei Calls AI Progress a "Warning Sign," Drawing Backlash(2026-09-15, 12 posts)
- Episode 10: Palisade Director Tells BBC the World Is Waking Up to AI Risks(2026-09-15, 2 posts)
- Episode 11: Princeton scholars publish 13,000-word essay arguing AI safety should focus on control over alignment(2026-09-15, 8 posts)
- Episode 12: Debate Flares Over 'AI Is Slowing Down' Narrative(2026-09-15, 2 posts)
- Episode 13: OpenAI confirms weeks of AI safety talks with Anthropic and Google DeepMind(2026-09-15, 6 posts)
- Episode 14: Altman Expresses Strong Confidence in Industry's Ability to Build AI Safely(2026-09-16, 3 posts)
- Episode 15: NY Post Report Targets Anthropic's Handpicked AI Safety Watchers Over EA Ties(2026-09-16, 5 posts)
- Episode 16: AI Giants' Joint Call for Regulation Slammed as Anticompetitive Ploy(2026-09-17, 4 posts)
Primary sources
- AI safety movement's ties to EA, SBF and Zizians called a PR liability amid Anthropic watchdog report — bennash · 2026-09-16
- NY Post: Anthropic CEO's handpicked AI watchdog has deep Effective Altruism ties — NicoVerderosa · 2026-09-16
- [source] NY Times reporter flags planted stories questioning METR's independence amid Anthropic attacks — morqon · 2026-09-16
- [source] NY Post targets Dario Amodei's handpicked AI safety team in cover story — JacquesThibs · 2026-09-17
1 near-duplicate retellings: austinc3301