Anthropic, a leading artificial intelligence company, plans to seek investment from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, according to CEO Dario Amodei. In a Slack message sent to staff on Sunday morning, Amodei acknowledged that accepting money from Middle Eastern leaders could enrich “dictators,” but argued that it’s necessary for staying competitive in AI development.
The move comes as AI companies race to secure massive amounts of capital required for training and developing frontier AI models. OpenAI recently announced a $500 billion data center project with financial backing from a state-owned Emirati investment firm. Anthropic, however, aims to avoid the risks associated with large investments from authoritarian regimes by pursuing “narrowly scoped, purely financial investment” from Gulf countries.
Amodei expressed concerns about the potential for investors to gain “soft power” through the promise of future funding, which could lead to resistance in the future. He also noted that taking investment from Gulf States would likely lead to public criticism, as the media and Twitter often look for hypocrisy.
Despite these challenges, Anthropic believes that pursuing investments from the Middle East is necessary for staying on the frontier of AI development. The company aims to balance its desire for funding with its commitment to avoiding authoritarian regimes and promoting human rights.
In a statement, Anthropic spokesperson Christopher Nulty emphasized that the company’s goal is to serve the region commercially while maintaining its values and principles. “As an American company at the forefront of AI development, we believe in sharing the benefits of AI and serving the Middle East and regions around the world commercially,” Nulty said.
The decision marks a significant shift for Anthropic, which previously decided not to accept money from Saudi Arabia due to national security concerns. The move comes as FTX, a failed cryptocurrency exchange, sold its nearly 8% stake in Anthropic to a UAE firm, marking one of the largest deals in AI funding history.
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/anthropic-dario-amodei-gulf-state-leaked-memo