In a new Bloomberg interview, Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei has publicly addressed the real reason he and his team walked out of OpenAI — and it wasn't just about AI safety.
According to Amodei, the public narrative that the split was driven by philosophical disagreements over safety is a misreading. The true trigger, he says, was a complete breakdown of trust in Sam Altman. "When you feel you can't trust someone, when you feel their values are inconsistent and they're not honest with you, it becomes impossible to work together," Amodei said. "In a team lacking trust and a shared vision, the best solution is to part ways gracefully and go independent."
Compared to OpenAI's revolving door of executives, Anthropic has shown remarkable stability: not one of its original seven co-founders has left since the company was founded — a rarity for a Silicon Valley tech company of its size.