x.com/firstadopter/status/2043009456103993426
1 correction found
Dario is on the record multiple times describing OpenAI as YOLO, recklessly buying too much capacity.
The public record does not show Dario Amodei naming OpenAI in those remarks. In the DealBook interview he declined to identify any company, and on the Dwarkesh podcast he referred only to unnamed “other players” or “other companies.”
Full reasoning
This overstates what Amodei said.
- In the New York Times DealBook Summit remarks cited here, Amodei did not identify OpenAI as the company he was criticizing. Yahoo Finance’s report on the event says he "demurred when asked which company was taking such risks" and instead spoke about a hypothetical consumer AI company run by a person who "YOLOs" things.
- In the Dwarkesh podcast appearance, he again did not name OpenAI. The published transcript says: "we’re spending somewhat less than some of the other players" and "some of the other companies have not written down the spreadsheet". That is criticism of unnamed competitors, not an on-the-record statement specifically about OpenAI.
So the claim that Amodei was "on the record multiple times describing OpenAI as YOLO" is not supported by the actual quoted record. A more accurate description would be that he criticized unnamed competitors and some observers inferred he might have been referring to OpenAI.
2 sources
- Anthropic CEO: Some AI companies 'YOLOing,' pulling the 'risk dial too far'
"Amodei demurred when asked which company was taking such risks" and instead described "the idea of a consumer AI company ... run by a person 'who just kind of constitutionally ... YOLOs [you only live once] things.'"
- Dario Amodei - "We are near the end of the exponential"
The transcript says: "I think it is true we’re spending somewhat less than some of the other players ... I get the impression that some of the other companies have not written down the spreadsheet ... They’re just doing stuff because it sounds cool." It does not name OpenAI.