The CEO of Silicon Valley's trillion-dollar AI empire turns out to be a two-faced "doomsday cult leader"

The trillion-dollar CEO of Silicon Valley is actually a "double-faced doomsday cult leader"?!

These days, a bombshell long article from The Information has almost completely exposed Dario Amodei's true colors.

Over 42 days of investigation, journalist Cory Weinberg interviewed his subordinates, competitors and investors, and finally pieced together a highly compelling "double-faced persona" —

On one hand, he repeatedly warns that AI may destroy humanity, while on the other hand, he personally steps on the accelerator, betting that the "singularity" will arrive at a faster pace.

Afraid of AI, yet betting heavily on AI. Which side of Dario Amodei is the real one?

Side A: AI Could Wipe Out the Entire Human Race

Earlier this year, public opinion on AI hit rock bottom, with the public's hostility and fear toward this technology reaching its peak.

At a core closed-door meeting of Anthropic, the attending board members suggested:

Anthropic should leverage its astonishing industry influence to launch a public relations "Charm Offensive", just like Microsoft, Meta and even Google did in the past.

For example, it should focus on promoting the huge potential of AI in benefiting humanity, such as discovering new anti-cancer drugs and conquering rare diseases.

Right after the suggestion was put forward, Dario, sitting at one end of the long table, vetoed the proposal on the spot without any hesitation —

People did do that in the past, but this time, we are facing a real "existential crisis".

Instead of compromising, the situation eventually moved to the opposite extreme.

During the highly anticipated World Cup, Anthropic's ads suddenly flashed a series of dark, depressing scenes: A row of cold, dim tombstones appeared in the center of the frame.

Anthropic was implying that AI could kill everyone!

Fear of AI Has Lasted for Ten Years

Over the past decade, Dario Amodei has consistently maintained a high level of focus on safety.

Back in 2017, when the whole world was still immersed in the mobile internet era, Dario Amodei already warned of the safety crisis that AGI might bring.

In 2018, when everyone was cheering for the emerging model capabilities of OpenAI, Dario showed an almost neurotic sense of precaution.

At that time, he overruled all dissenting opinions and pushed hard to implement an out-of-place iron rule:

All core research of OpenAI must go through a strict "information hazard" assessment before publication, to prevent technical details from leaking to competitors.

This almost harsh level of prudence once made OpenAI's colleagues feel suffocated.

In 2019, Microsoft was preparing to inject a $1 billion "lifeline" into cash-strapped OpenAI.

However, Amodei's safety team forcibly pressed a pause button on this make-or-break financing negotiation for several months.

The reason was — worrying that the not-yet-fully-trained GPT-3 would evolve into an out-of-control AGI.

Colleagues at that time even privately mocked that Dario Amodei's department was like "a priestly class that thinks highly of itself and monopolizes the truth".

Computers Disconnected from the Internet, Documents Delivered Manually

More interestingly, to ensure confidentiality, Dario Amodei refuses to access any external network.

In his apartment in San Francisco, he refuses to use any computer connected to the public internet.

All core memos are completed on a completely "Air-gapped" computer.

After finishing writing, he does not upload them to the cloud or send emails. Instead, he prints them out as physical documents, then "personally" brings them to the office to distribute to the team members.

This almost paranoid "Bunker Mentality" reached its peak in 2020.

Eventually, due to different ideas, he led his team to leave OpenAI and founded Anthropic.

In the eyes of the founding team, Sam Altman, who was pursuing rapid commercialization, was leading humanity straight off a cliff.

This kind of trauma has precipitated into a unique cohesion within Anthropic. Employees even privately tease this extreme vigilance against their former employer as "Sama Derangement Syndrome".

Nowadays, the sense of being on high alert within Anthropic confuses outsiders.

Side B: The "Singularity" Is Always on His Mind

Anthropic's investors have a private evaluation that has almost reached a consensus: "He is more like a religious leader than a CEO."

Dario rarely interferes in daily management. Compensation, organizational structure and personnel adjustments are almost all handed over to his sister Daniela.

As for himself, he turns his vision into a lighthouse that shines in every corner of the company.

Most recently, the lighthouse shone on the in-house economist team. They used a rough mathematical model to assess the possible impact of the "singularity":

A slow singularity may only contribute 0.5 percentage points to U.S. economic growth, with employment remaining largely stable; a fast singularity may contribute 4 percentage points, while significantly pushing up the unemployment rate.

After listening to the report, Dario only said: This is roughly what I have in mind.

Employees talk about Dario Amodei as if he is a mystic. "He can foresee the future," one person said. "He has the singularity in his head," another person noted.

His twice-monthly all-hands meetings are called the "Dario Amodei Vision Tour". At these meetings, he opens a wide-ranging document and speaks frankly about AI, politics, war and society.

On Slack, he is straightforward, discusses ideas with everyone as an equal, and is approachable, which in turn inspires an almost religious level of loyalty.

This leadership style is almost an outlier in Silicon Valley. Most CEOs are trained to be "growth machines", while Dario is more like a "god" who has turned himself into the embodiment of safety doctrine.

This unique leadership style has built an organization culture similar to a "temple" within Anthropic.

Talented employees come to work here not just to earn a seven-figure annual salary, but to practice the shared belief of "saving humanity" in a world polluted by capital.

Commercial companies drive employees with KPIs, but temples drive people only with beliefs.

Annual Revenue Reaches 47 Billion USD

Investors Are Afraid That He Doesn't Care About Money

On the way to the singularity, Anthropic has created an almost mythical commercial miracle —

Founded only 5 years ago, with just over 3,000 employees, it now has a valuation as high as 965 billion USD.

Calculated based on the valuation of about 4.1 billion USD in May 2023, in just three years, the valuation has skyrocketed to about 235 times the original figure.

This figure has surpassed Oracle, the database giant that has stood tall for nearly half a century.

Let's look at a highly striking comparison: As of the end of May 2026, Oracle has about 141,000 employees; while Anthropic only has 2-3% of that number.

Today's Anthropic has achieved the fastest revenue growth rate in history.

But oddly enough, those top investors who are about to make a fortune from the upcoming IPO show no sign of joy, instead they are trembling with fear.

"My biggest fear is that he doesn't care about money at all."

A senior Silicon Valley investor who did early due diligence on Anthropic wrote that in his notes.

Another public fund manager who plans to take a heavy position in its IPO sighed almost pleadingly after the interview: "Please, can he stop scaring everyone?"

You know, sitting across from Dario are a group of capital giants who control hundreds of billions of dollars in funds and are used to measuring everything by growth rate, profit and valuation.

But what Dario is most keen to discuss with them is not Anthropic's business blueprint, but "the probability of AI destroying humanity".

Stepping on the Accelerator While Looking for the Brake: A High-Stakes Gamble Related to the Fate of All Mankind

To prevent AI from destroying the world, you have to build the most powerful AI yourself —

This is the most chilling paradox on Dario.

Since the train heading for the "singularity" can no longer be stopped, he would rather hold the steering wheel firmly in the hands of this "doomsday believer" than hand it over to the "maniacs" who are speeding all the way.

Thus, we see the most contradictory scene in the history of technology: He is trying to control a wildly running money printer by building a temple.

But the ultimate pursuit of capital is endless growth, forever.

When the frenzy of a trillion-dollar market cap arrives at the same time as ASI, can this "doomsday cult leader" still rein in the behemoth he has personally fed and raised?

The believers are gambling, and the capital is gambling too.

And all of us have already been pulled onto this card table with no way out by him.

References:

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/dario-amodei-spread-anthropics-religion-stirred-silicon-valley

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-listen-to-the-story-84532929/episode/can-anthropic-win-the-ai-race-276045535/

This article is from the WeChat public account "New Zhi Yuan", author: ASI Apocalypse, editors: David, Taozi, published with authorization from 36Kr.