Anthropic drops hallmark safety pledge in race with AI peers

"Anthropic said it was updating its rules to say it would no longer do so if it believes it lacks a significant lead over a competitor. The policy environment has shifted toward prioritizing AI competitiveness and economic growth, while safety-oriented discussions have yet to gain meaningful traction at the federal level, Anthropic said in its post."

"The company's move underscores how the high-minded intentions that guided AI startups in their early years have increasingly collided with the pressures to make money and beat out the competition. Anthropic is racing for dominance in the revolutionary technology against a host of formidable rivals, including OpenAI, Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Elon Musk's xAI Corp."

"Dario Amodei, chief executive officer of Anthropic, used to work at OpenAI and left in 2020 in part because of his concerns that the startup was prioritizing commercialization and speed over safety. OpenAI began as a nonprofit and converted to a more traditional for-profit enterprise last year."

Anthropic has substantially loosened its commitment to AI safety guardrails, reversing its 2023 Responsible Scaling Policy that promised to delay potentially dangerous AI development. The company now states it will abandon such delays if it lacks a competitive lead over rivals. This shift reflects broader industry pressure to prioritize profitability and market dominance over safety considerations. Anthropic competes against OpenAI, Google, and xAI for AI supremacy. Notably, CEO Dario Amodei previously left OpenAI over commercialization concerns, yet Anthropic now mirrors similar competitive pressures. Both companies are pursuing IPOs at substantial valuations, with Anthropic valued at $380 billion and OpenAI at over $850 billion. The policy change underscores how early AI startup idealism has increasingly yielded to financial and competitive imperatives.

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