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AIActive today · day 6

WSJ report: Effective altruism deeply shaped Anthropic's AI-safety culture

A Wall Street Journal investigation finds EA doomerism embedded in Anthropic's founding, with some early employees weighing remote land purchases as a hedge against AI catastrophe.

newest coverage 3h agosummary written 2d ago30 pieces38 likes & upvotes4 comments NewswiresMastodonXHacker NewsBlueskyGoogle News

What to know

  • A WSJ investigation traces how effective altruism's existential-risk fears shaped Anthropic's founding culture and safety philosophy.
  • Some early Anthropic employees are reportedly considering buying remote US land to relocate to if AI development goes badly.
  • The story probes the apparent contradiction of AI 'doomers' who nonetheless build the technology they fear could be catastrophic.

Anthropic AI company at center of the reportKeach Hagey Wall Street Journal reporterBerber Jin Wall Street Journal reporterEarly Anthropic employees Subjects of the report

WSJ report: Effective altruism deeply shaped Anthropic's AI-safety culture
x.com

How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts

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Sep 24Sep 25Sep 26Sep 27yesterdaynow · 6:00 AM ET
  1. 1

    Reporter explains why doomers still build the technology they fear

    WSJ reporter Keach Hagey, describing the reporting process with colleague Berber Jin, framed the story as answering why people who believe AI has a meaningful chance of killing everyone are nonetheless building it.

    “if people at Anthropic believe that AI has a meaningful chance of killing us all, why are they building it?”
    — @keachhagey
    1. 6 outlets Anthropic, OpenAI sound AI safety alarm, seek to shape how it's controlled

      first by Business Standard, 1d ago · also PBS NewsHour, The Hindu, AP News, Japan Today, Philadelphia Inquirer

      1 more headline
    • BroadbandBreakfast@mastodon.social

      As tech titans warned an AI-weary world that their own advanced systems could endanger humanity, the question emerged: What do they have to gain? https:// broadbandbreakfast.com/anthrop ic-and-openai-sound-the-alarm-on-ai-safety-and-seek-to-shape-its-control/ # ai # artificialintelligence # politics # UnitedNations # world # news # technews #…

      BroadbandBreakfast@mastodon.socialMastodon1d ago12▲view on Mastodon ↗
    2 more of the top 3 · 6 posts in this stretch
    • stokel.bsky.social

      AI companies have shown themselves to be unqualified to keep track of their models - so why are we letting them be custodians of reporting incidents? My latest for @theguardian.com

      stokel.bsky.socialBluesky3h ago7▲view on Bluesky ↗

    • Over the last few weeks, so many people have asked me: if people at Anthropic believe that AI has a meaningful chance of killing us all, why are they building it? @berber_jin1 and I did a deep dive into Anthropic's relationship with effective altruism to try to explain how doomerism came to be so ...

      @keachhageyX2d agoview on X ↗
    all of them →
  2. background

    WSJ publishes investigation into EA's influence on Anthropic — The Wall Street Journal detailed how effective altruism's fears about existential AI risk have shaped Anthropic's safety culture and internal thinking, including reports that some early employees are considering buying remote US land for relocation if AI outcomes turn catastrophic.

Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet

  1. 2 outlets As AI models go rogue, do you still trust OpenAI and Anthropic to stop them? I don’t and neither should you | Chris Stokel-Walker

    first by Guardian Tech, 4h ago · also Guardian Business

and 2 smaller pieces

What people are saying 2 voices from 2 sites · best of 6 · verbatim