Dario Amodei on why he left OpenAI: a breakdown of trust, not disagreement
Hesamation · x · 2026-10-27
In a conversation with Walter Isaacson, Dario Amodei explained that he left OpenAI to found Anthropic not over disagreements about safety — which he says are healthy — but over a breakdown of trust. At Anthropic, he and co-founders frequently disagree on model releases, bio safeguards, and safety lobbying, yet resolve conflicts because they're held in good faith. Pressed on whether this was about Sam Altman, he said honesty is a core value and "it's hard to know what someone's values are if they don't have the value of honesty." He also contrasted Anthropic's five-year record: advocacy for sensible regulation, mechanistic interpretability research, industry-high retention, and few scandals. "If you work for someone with a different vision, it becomes unclear what you stand for."
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