Anthropic fires back at Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, says it has never claimed only Anthropic can build safe and powerful AI

(Image credit: Getty / Bloomberg)

Anthropic, the AI company behind popular (Large Language Model) LLM Claude, has hit back at comments made by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, in which he stated that Anthropic believes AI is so scary and expensive that nobody else should do it.

Over the weekend, Huang criticized Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei in the wake of comments suggesting that AI could wipe out 50% of all entry-level white-collar jobs and cause unemployment to jump to 20% within the next five years. "One, he believes that AI is so scary that only they [Anthropic] should do it. Two, that AI is so expensive, nobody else should do it… and three, AI is so incredibly powerful that everyone will lose their jobs, which explains why they should be the only company building it," Huang said. Comments that have drawn the ire of the California outfit.

"Dario has never claimed that 'only Anthropic' can build safe and powerful AI," a company spokesperson told Tom's Hardware. "As the public record shows, Dario has advocated for a national transparency standard for AI developers (including Anthropic) so the public and policymakers are aware of the models' capabilities and risks and can prepare accordingly. He has also raised concerns about the economic impact of AI—particularly on entry-level jobs. Dario stands by these positions and will continue to do so."

The ongoing spat reflects Huang's own aversion to Anthropic's business model. Outlining his recent comments, Huang stated that he "pretty much disagree[d] with almost everything" Amodei says about AI.

"I think AI is a very important technology; we should build it and advance it safely and responsibly," he stated, arguing development of AI should continue in the open — "Don’t do it in a dark room and tell me it’s safe.”

Naturally, as the industry leader in providing AI hardware, Nvidia has a bullish stance on AI as a force for good, which contrasts with the tempered expectations of Amodei. While the latter's comments about AI replacing 50% of all white collar jobs and inflating unemployment might seem hysterical, they reflect a more subtle undertone of concern about AI taking jobs, which will only prove unfounded (or otherwise) with time.

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Stephen is Tom's Hardware's News Editor with almost a decade of industry experience covering technology, having worked at TechRadar, iMore, and even Apple over the years. He has covered the world of consumer tech from nearly every angle, including supply chain rumors, patents, and litigation, and more. When he's not at work, he loves reading about history and playing video games.

1 Comment Comment from the forums

acadia11

Ai will replace many jobs and not just entry level, it’s simply higher level automation, you will require fewer actual humans to get the same output much like a factory requires fewer people today … unless you are China with 1.5 billion people for a cheap labor pool at your disposal. But what’s not being discussed is that new jobs will be created they may demand higher level of skills, education and understanding but this been the way of technology since our hominid ancestors started creating advanced tools. Prior to the late 1800s grade school education was enough to be a viable member in the labor pool, then it was high school , now it’s college for some skillsets … but it’s not the only path to making money. Technology opened up vast opportunities for commerce and productivity , whether it’s tik tok … eBay or … there is downside and upside and unintentional consequences through out our technological history, but it always has shifted where jobs were allocated and acquiring of capital could be found. It’s not that all jobs disappeared the types of jobs changed.

Finally, the real threat I believe is beyond jobs, but rather the burgeoning gap between the haves and have nots … and technology exasperates this issue, while it can be an equalizer with open source , knowledge proliferation, and information and such … the ability to reach, touch, influence, communicate, acquire knowledge, manipulate, scam, infiltrate the minds and capital of a much much larger group of people at the touch of button will accelerate the transfer of wealth at an alarming rate to those who understand the power at their fingertips from those who don’t. And this magnification will lead to a power imbalance in society that is simply untenable in the long term creating calamity , frustration, friction and social, civil and violent conflict in humanity. But that’s just my take.
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