"Anthropic Thinks It's Creating A God" Say Veteran Investors

As Anthropic races with rivals such as OpenAI and Google DeepMind to build increasingly powerful AI systems, veteran investor Bill Gurley, who was part of Uber's early funding round, has come down heavily on the company. He was in conversation with another early Uber investor, Jason (McCabe) Calacanis, who accused Anthropic's leaders, including co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei, of suffering from "delusions of grandeur."

"I don't think they think they're writing software. I think they're midwifing (helping birth) a deity here," Gurley told Calacanis.

Anthropic, the creator of Claude, is one of the world's leading AI companies. Founded by former OpenAI researchers, it is widely viewed as one of the firms closest to OpenAI in capabilities and has emerged as one of the most valuable AI startups in the world.

"They believe that they're so powerful, these individuals, that they can create God and that by creating God, they are like this Prometheus kind of species. It literally is the ultimate level of narcissism and delusion of grandeur to think you can create God," Calacanis said. Prometheus, in Greek mythology, stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity, a myth often interpreted as a warning about the pursuit of god-like powers.

Yet unlike many of its competitors, Anthropic frequently warns about AI risks and existential dangers. "Anthropic is a mystery to me," Gurley said while speaking about the contradiction.

"I've never ever seen a company that is both leading their field and the most negatively outspoken commenter on what they do."

Initially, Gurley said he thought Anthropic was doing it for the optics and for what he described as "regulatory capture," but as he dug deeper he came up with a theory he calls the "Dr Frankenstein theory." Gurley's comparison to the fictional scientist Dr Frankenstein, whose creation ultimately escaped his control, is telling here.

"The more I dig, I've met people who I dare say think it's their responsibility and they're excited about building a species that's superior to humans," he said.

Gurley said his views were shaped in part by reading Machines of Loving Grace, a widely discussed essay published by Amodei in 2024. In it, the Anthropic CEO lays out an optimistic vision of how increasingly powerful AI could transform science, medicine and the global economy. The essay takes its title from a 1967 poem of the same name by American writer Richard Brautigan. Gurley highlighted the poem's final stanza, which imagines a world where humans are "all watched over by machines of loving grace."

"Sounds like overlord to me," Gurley remarked. By "overlord," Gurley appeared to be suggesting a future in which powerful AI systems wield significant authority over human affairs.

He also highlighted sections of Amodei's essay describing a future in which highly capable AI systems could play a significant role in the economy. Referencing one passage, Gurley noted that Amodei discusses the possibility of a "capitalist economy of AI systems" that could generate resources and distribute rewards through systems shaped by AI.

For Gurley and Calacanis, these ideas suggest that some AI leaders may see themselves as doing something far bigger than building a technology company.