Over the weekend. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei pushed back against investor Gavin Baker’s criticism of the company’s regulatory stance, arguing that carefully designed AI rules can limit the power of frontier labs without undermining competition or open-weight models.
Anthropic Pushes Back on Gavin Baker’s Statement
The debate began after Baker, managing partner and chief investment officer at Atreides Management, appeared on the All-In podcast and said, "I have been told by multiple people I trust that Dario has said that Anthropic might be the only private company in the world at some point."
An Anthropic employee, Sholto Douglas, called the statement "completely false," prompting Baker to say that his broader concerns were about Amodei’s public messaging on AI risks and regulation.
"Thank you for setting the record straight. Larger issue is that multiple very serious people in Silicon Valley have heard some variation of this and believe it to be true," Baker wrote on X in response to Douglas.
Baker argued that concentrating powerful AI systems among a small group of companies and governments could be more dangerous than widely distributing the technology.
He cited Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s argument that extreme concentration of AI power could create its own risks.
Amodei rejected that framing.
"I think that ‘either concentrate it in the hands of a chosen few companies and politicians via regulation or distribute it widely’ is a false choice." Amodei wrote.
He argued that regulations can impose tougher requirements on frontier AI companies while giving smaller competitors more room to develop, potentially strengthening competition.
Baker Criticizes Amodei’s AI Regulation Push
Baker also argued that Amodei’s push for stricter AI regulation has failed to achieve its intended outcome and could instead fuel opposition to data centers.
He said Amodei should take a more positive stance on AI’s potential benefits, including advances in medicine, while remaining open to regulation if needed.
Amodei disagreed that his regulatory efforts have failed.
The Anthropic CEO said he supports the Donald Trump administration’s reported approach of pre-deployment testing for frontier AI models, as well as testing advanced open-weight models.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the White House told major AI companies that open-weight models will be exempt from its planned AI safety testing.
Anthropic CEO Defends AI Safety Warnings
Amodei also pushed back on Baker’s criticism that his messaging has been disproportionately negative toward AI.
He said Anthropic has discussed both the risks and potential benefits of advanced AI, including the possibility of major breakthroughs in medicine and biology.
"I do not agree that my messaging has been disproportionately negative," Amodei wrote, adding that AI’s public perception reflects a broader "crisis of trust."
Amodei said the fairest criticism of AI companies, including Anthropic, is that they have yet to deliver on their promises to benefit the world. He added that the focus should be on tangible results rather than messaging and marketing.
"The thing that will work is actually curing cancer," he wrote, arguing that real-world breakthroughs would do more to build public trust than promises about AI’s potential.
Anthropic Revenue Forecast Soars: Report
Anthropic reportedly expects to generate $190 billion to $200 billion in revenue by 2028, a massive jump from its roughly $47 billion annualized revenue run rate in May.
The AI startup’s revenue run rate stood at about $9 billion at the end of 2025 before surging past $47 billion by May.
For the second quarter of 2026, Anthropic expects revenue of at least $10.9 billion, more than double the previous quarter.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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