AI giant Anthropic is facing a possible head-on collision with the Trump administration — as concerns from conservatives multiply that the fast-growing firm carries a left-wing bias, The Post has learned.
Investors within the San Francisco-based company — known for its popular Claude chatbot — include the Ford Foundation, a notoriously left-leaning group that bought $5 million price of Anthropic shares in March 2024 within the bankruptcy of disgraced Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto empire, in accordance with little-noticed court filings.
Earlier this month, Vice President JD Vance called out the Ford Foundation by name while vowing to “go after the NGO network that foments, facilitates and engages in violence” following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
That’s after Anthropic recently irritated Trump officials by barring federal contractors from using its tools for some law enforcement purposes. Some on the White House have grumbled that Anthropic, whose CEO Dario Amodei is a outstanding Democratic donor, may very well be “selectively enforcing its policies” as a result of differing political opinions, Semafor reported.
Taken together, the 2 data points are prone to invite unwelcome scrutiny for Anthropic — whilst rivals including Sam Altman’s OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI have worked to curry favor with the White House, a source near the Trump administration said.
“When [the White House] is on the lookout for a collaborative partner and suddenly they begin being obstinate over White House objectives, and it involves surface that they got a big investment from a hostile political organization – which is what I might consider the Ford Foundation to be – I feel you’re going to see a number of eyebrows being raised,” the source added.
Anthropic, whose backers include Amazon and Google, is competing with OpenAI, xAI and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta for all the pieces from lucrative federal contracts to crafting potential federal regulations around AI.
But even before the newest flap over AI usage by federal contractors, Anthropic’s relationship with the White House – and key administration officials like AI czar David Sacks – was already seen as shaky at best.
Anthropic’s Amodei called Trump a “feudal warlord” in a now-deleted social media post expressing support for Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 election. In 2018, he described Trump as a “serious and legit threat to the rule of law.”
During a May episode of the favored “All In” podcast, Sacks said Anthropic was a part of group of tech “doomers” that he described as “committed leftists” and “Trump haters” with ties to the effective altruism movement, which once counted Bankman-Fried amongst its elite backers.
Sacks also identified that several ex-Biden administration staffers had joined Anthropic and that Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, a Democratic megadonor, was a part of its board of directors.
Amodei was one among the few tech honchos who skipped Trump’s inauguration in January, though he did attend an administration event about energy policy in Pittsburgh in July.
He has also raised the hackles of some AI leaders with frequent warnings concerning the technology’s risks. Amodei has said executives and politicians should stop “sugar-coating” the mass layoffs that might occur as a result of AI and suggested unemployment could hit 20%. He’s also warned of a 25% likelihood that things go “really, really badly” for humanity as AI gets more advanced.
Daniela Amodei, his sister and a fellow co-founder of Anthropic, has an extended history of donating to Democrats, include Harris, Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
“Relating to policy and attempting to foment the golden age of American economic dominance, the White Home is on the lookout for partners who wish to put America first and wish to work together collaboratively,” the source near the White House added.
Despite its differences with the administration, Anthropic has secured various federal contracts – including a $200 million contract with the Department of War and a partnership with the US General Services Administration.
Anthropic has also expressed support for the White House’s AI Motion Plan, declaring it was “encouraged by the plan’s deal with accelerating AI infrastructure and federal adoption, in addition to strengthening safety testing and security coordination.”
The White House didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Anthropic’s valuation was just $18.4 billion in early 2024. But as of earlier this month, Anthropic had secured an $183 billion post-money valuation. Depending on the share structure, meaning Ford Foundation’s stake, while tiny in comparison with key backers like Google and Amazon, has seen an enormous increase in value during the last 12 months.
An Anthropic spokesperson said the Ford Foundation represents a small fraction of the firm’s overall investor base. Ford doesn’t have any influence over Anthropic’s policy positions or business activities, the spokesperson added.
“We’re committed to protecting America’s lead in AI, defending and upholding America’s democratic values, and contesting the advance of authoritarian adversaries,” the Anthropic spokesperson said. “As a part of that commitment, Anthropic was an early mover in deploying AI for national security and intelligence work, and we work with the intelligence community in many various capacities.”
The spokesperson also pushed back on the notion that Anthropic has a rift with the Trump administration.
While Anthropic’s policies bar using its AI tools for “direct domestic surveillance and related collection of information,” multiple federal law enforcement agencies “are currently using Claude for research, evaluation, and other use cases.”
Other AI giants, including OpenAI, Microsoft and Google, have policies restricting use of their AI tools for surveillance purposes.
A Ford Foundation spokesperson said: “Like every other passive investor in an organization, the Ford Foundation has no role in Anthropic’s management or business activities.”
Vance, who co-hosted an episode of “The Charlie Kirk Show” after the assassination, alleged that the Ford Foundation and the George Soros-backed Open Society Foundations had provided funding to progressive magazine The Nation.
The vp slammed the outlet for misrepresenting Kirk’s words in an article titled “Charlie Kirk’s Legacy Deserves No Mourning.” In response, Open Society said it never funded The Nation, while Ford Foundation said it hasn’t funded the outlet since 2019.
The allegation was part of a bigger pledge by Vance to focus on progressive groups that he accused of stoking an increase of left-wing violence.
AI giant Anthropic is facing a possible head-on collision with the Trump administration — as concerns from conservatives multiply that the fast-growing firm carries a left-wing bias, The Post has learned.
Investors within the San Francisco-based company — known for its popular Claude chatbot — include the Ford Foundation, a notoriously left-leaning group that bought $5 million price of Anthropic shares in March 2024 within the bankruptcy of disgraced Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto empire, in accordance with little-noticed court filings.
Earlier this month, Vice President JD Vance called out the Ford Foundation by name while vowing to “go after the NGO network that foments, facilitates and engages in violence” following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
That’s after Anthropic recently irritated Trump officials by barring federal contractors from using its tools for some law enforcement purposes. Some on the White House have grumbled that Anthropic, whose CEO Dario Amodei is a outstanding Democratic donor, may very well be “selectively enforcing its policies” as a result of differing political opinions, Semafor reported.
Taken together, the 2 data points are prone to invite unwelcome scrutiny for Anthropic — whilst rivals including Sam Altman’s OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI have worked to curry favor with the White House, a source near the Trump administration said.
“When [the White House] is on the lookout for a collaborative partner and suddenly they begin being obstinate over White House objectives, and it involves surface that they got a big investment from a hostile political organization – which is what I might consider the Ford Foundation to be – I feel you’re going to see a number of eyebrows being raised,” the source added.
Anthropic, whose backers include Amazon and Google, is competing with OpenAI, xAI and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta for all the pieces from lucrative federal contracts to crafting potential federal regulations around AI.
But even before the newest flap over AI usage by federal contractors, Anthropic’s relationship with the White House – and key administration officials like AI czar David Sacks – was already seen as shaky at best.
Anthropic’s Amodei called Trump a “feudal warlord” in a now-deleted social media post expressing support for Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 election. In 2018, he described Trump as a “serious and legit threat to the rule of law.”
During a May episode of the favored “All In” podcast, Sacks said Anthropic was a part of group of tech “doomers” that he described as “committed leftists” and “Trump haters” with ties to the effective altruism movement, which once counted Bankman-Fried amongst its elite backers.
Sacks also identified that several ex-Biden administration staffers had joined Anthropic and that Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, a Democratic megadonor, was a part of its board of directors.
Amodei was one among the few tech honchos who skipped Trump’s inauguration in January, though he did attend an administration event about energy policy in Pittsburgh in July.
He has also raised the hackles of some AI leaders with frequent warnings concerning the technology’s risks. Amodei has said executives and politicians should stop “sugar-coating” the mass layoffs that might occur as a result of AI and suggested unemployment could hit 20%. He’s also warned of a 25% likelihood that things go “really, really badly” for humanity as AI gets more advanced.
Daniela Amodei, his sister and a fellow co-founder of Anthropic, has an extended history of donating to Democrats, include Harris, Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
“Relating to policy and attempting to foment the golden age of American economic dominance, the White Home is on the lookout for partners who wish to put America first and wish to work together collaboratively,” the source near the White House added.
Despite its differences with the administration, Anthropic has secured various federal contracts – including a $200 million contract with the Department of War and a partnership with the US General Services Administration.
Anthropic has also expressed support for the White House’s AI Motion Plan, declaring it was “encouraged by the plan’s deal with accelerating AI infrastructure and federal adoption, in addition to strengthening safety testing and security coordination.”
The White House didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Anthropic’s valuation was just $18.4 billion in early 2024. But as of earlier this month, Anthropic had secured an $183 billion post-money valuation. Depending on the share structure, meaning Ford Foundation’s stake, while tiny in comparison with key backers like Google and Amazon, has seen an enormous increase in value during the last 12 months.
An Anthropic spokesperson said the Ford Foundation represents a small fraction of the firm’s overall investor base. Ford doesn’t have any influence over Anthropic’s policy positions or business activities, the spokesperson added.
“We’re committed to protecting America’s lead in AI, defending and upholding America’s democratic values, and contesting the advance of authoritarian adversaries,” the Anthropic spokesperson said. “As a part of that commitment, Anthropic was an early mover in deploying AI for national security and intelligence work, and we work with the intelligence community in many various capacities.”
The spokesperson also pushed back on the notion that Anthropic has a rift with the Trump administration.
While Anthropic’s policies bar using its AI tools for “direct domestic surveillance and related collection of information,” multiple federal law enforcement agencies “are currently using Claude for research, evaluation, and other use cases.”
Other AI giants, including OpenAI, Microsoft and Google, have policies restricting use of their AI tools for surveillance purposes.
A Ford Foundation spokesperson said: “Like every other passive investor in an organization, the Ford Foundation has no role in Anthropic’s management or business activities.”
Vance, who co-hosted an episode of “The Charlie Kirk Show” after the assassination, alleged that the Ford Foundation and the George Soros-backed Open Society Foundations had provided funding to progressive magazine The Nation.
The vp slammed the outlet for misrepresenting Kirk’s words in an article titled “Charlie Kirk’s Legacy Deserves No Mourning.” In response, Open Society said it never funded The Nation, while Ford Foundation said it hasn’t funded the outlet since 2019.
The allegation was part of a bigger pledge by Vance to focus on progressive groups that he accused of stoking an increase of left-wing violence.
