Anthropic CEO: Disruptive AI technology will simultaneously boost economic growth and unemployment rate, setting it apart from Google and OpenAI's "race".

Dario Amodei, CEO of the AI startup Anthropic, discussed disruptive AI technology, competition from large tech companies, and potential IPO plans at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Amodei said, "I think the landmark significance of this technology is that it will take us into a world with extremely high GDP growth, but also potentially facing very high unemployment rates and exacerbated inequality. We have never had such a disruptive technology before. So, imagine if we could achieve 5% or 10% GDP growth, but at the same time have 10% unemployment rate, this is not logically inconsistent, it just hasn't happened in this way before." Amodei believes that by 2026 or 2027, humans will have models in most fields that reach the level of Nobel laureates. His core logic lies in the "self-improving loop." Models are now adept at writing code and conducting AI research, allowing them to design the next generation of stronger models. He revealed that engineers inside Anthropic have started to no longer code personally, but instead transition to "editing" the models. He predicts that this AI-driven research and development acceleration will be faster than people imagine, and even within the next 6 to 12 months, most of the work of software engineers can be completed end-to-end by the models. When discussing the impact of AI on the labor market, Amodei predicts that within the next 1 to 5 years, half of entry-level white-collar jobs may disappear. He stated that even within Anthropic, the demand for junior and mid-level employees is decreasing. While the labor market has adaptability (such as the transition from agriculture to industry), the exponential pace of this technological progress will overwhelm societal adaptability, potentially leading to an unprecedented crisis. Regarding competition, Amodei said that one of the correct choices made early by Anthropic was to become a company focused on enterprises rather than consumers. Although both Anthropic and OpenAI provide large language models to support chatbots and other AI tools, their revenue strategies are different. OpenAI targets individual customers through ChatGPT, while Anthropic primarily builds around enterprise clients. Anthropic, with about 300,000 enterprise clients, is expected to generate revenue of $8-10 billion in 2025. With the advantage of the Claude series models in professional fields, Anthropic is positioned accurately in the enterprise market. It is reported that their Claude series models have shown outstanding reliability in areas such as code writing, legal drafting, and financial analysis, which are crucial for achieving measurable cost savings. Regarding the potential IPO plans of Anthropic, Amodei said that they have not yet fully determined their specific actions for the future. The company is currently more focused on maintaining revenue growth, improving models, and selling models. Amodei added, "If I say that this is an industry with extremely high capital requirements and that the funds that the private market can provide are ultimately limited at some point, this is not a new point." Earlier this week, it was reported that Anthropic will conduct a new round of financing with a target of raising $25 billion, which would value the company at $350 billion. Investors reportedly include Sequoia Capital, the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), and the U.S. investment firm Coatue Capital. Furthermore, Microsoft Corporation and NVIDIA Corporation have already committed to invest a total of up to $15 billion in Anthropic. Last week, it was reported that Microsoft Corporation has become one of the largest customers of Anthropic and is expected to spend about $500 million annually to purchase Anthropic's AI technology to support Microsoft Corporation products. Anthropic also stated that they have committed to spend $30 billion to purchase computing capacity on Microsoft Corporation's Azure, with additional contracts for up to one billion watts of computing power.