**The CEO of Anthropic Just Went Rogue on Nvidia at Davos**
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the latest move from the US administration, which surprisingly reversed a previous ban and greenlit the sale of Nvidia’s H200 chips to Chinese clients, as well as a chip line from AMD. These high-performance processors are the go-to for AI, and I’m sure the Chinese government is thrilled to get their hands on them. But at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei was having none of it.
Amodei just unloaded on both the administration and Nvidia, and I have to admit, I’m a little surprised. I mean, Nvidia is a major investor and partner of Anthropic – it’s hard to imagine a bigger conflict of interest. When asked about the new guidelines, Amodei basically said that shipping these chips to China would be a huge mistake. He even went so far as to compare it to selling nuclear weapons to North Korea, saying it’s just as reckless.
And get this – Amodei is particularly critical of Nvidia, saying they’re “a few years ahead of China” when it comes to their ability to make chips. He painted a chilling picture of what could happen if these chips fall into the wrong hands, likening it to a “nation of geniuses in a data center” that could unleash all sorts of national security implications. Yikes.
What’s even more striking is that Amodei felt comfortable taking shots at his own partner. Nvidia provides the GPUs that power Anthropic’s AI models, and the two companies have a deep expertise partnership. You’d think the CEO would be more diplomatic, but I guess not. Anthropic just received a whopping $10 billion investment from Nvidia, so it’s not like Amodei is trying to burn bridges.
Amodei’s comments are definitely going to create some waves in the industry, and it’s anyone’s guess whether Nvidia will take umbrage. Maybe this was just an unguarded moment, but it’s hard not to take his comments seriously given Anthropic’s strong position in the AI market. The AI industry has become so existential that the normal rules don’t seem to apply anymore.
One thing is clear, though – Amodei is not afraid to speak his mind, even if it means ruffling a few feathers. That’s a valuable quality, especially in an industry where the stakes are higher than ever.
**Source:** TechCrunch
