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> One applicant — who spoke to Axios on the condition of anonymity for fear of hurting future job opportunities — recalled being asked how they would feel if th
by dgellow 2mo ago
> One applicant — who spoke to Axios on the condition of anonymity for fear of hurting future job opportunities — recalled being asked how they would feel if the company someday abandoned its AI ambitions for safety reasons, and that decision sent the stock to zero.
Is that a scoop? I thought that was a well known thing with Anthropic interview process. They were very transparent about it beforehand from what I remember.
On HN I’ve said things very critical of the company but that’s really not one of them, overall they had a pretty good (but intense and time consuming) interview process. I don’t understand the value of that article
- hresvelgr 2mo agoI wasn't aware this was known information, but had I not, I would have assumed this was some 4D PR manoeuvre.
- conception 2mo agoIt’s becoming trendy to hate on Anthropic these days but their AI security record speaks for itself for years. Every AI safety benchmark/paper I’ve seen since sonnet became viable placed them far ahead of all other providers - marketing ploy or not (ala Apple “privacy” focus) the company has always had as part of their DNA thus far.
- 15155 2mo agoThis paternalistic "safety" "DNA" is ultimately just marketing and a market capture strategy. 1) Propagandize the "dangers" of AI, stage a few incidents, talk up the risks ("it bypassed our most stringent checks! it's so smart!") 2) Build some thin veneer of "safety" and industry "self-policing." 3) Lobby for AI safety "regulation" - which you've conveniently already got an answer to! Be sure to make the regulations expensive, onerous, and impossible for foreign organizations to comply with. 4) Profit.
- dgellow 2mo agoI don’t think so, I think Amodei and the early employees do believe what they say. It’s still worth criticizing but I don’t think it’s as simple as „just marketing“. But with the company growing and their insane valuation it’s clear it’s morphing into something else
- 15155 2mo agoTalk is cheap. Sam Bankman-Fried was a loudly vocal proponent of Effective Altruism.
- dgellow 2mo agoIf you look at Amodei writing and publishing before Anthropic he was already a true believer, he seems to be ideologically driven. That doesn’t mean it’s good though, I’m very suspicious of Anthropic leadership, and they have pretty much everything they need to develop a cult following, making them dangerous
- Oarch 2mo ago"anonymity, for fear of hurting future job opportunities" Ah yes, this screams morality. We're in good hands, folks!
- mwigdahl 2mo agoNothing said that this candidate was actually hired by Anthropic, just that he or she applied.
- 405error 2mo agoI don't agree with some things Anthropic does but that is a cool thing.
- nisegami 2mo agoIsn't the obvious response that they should offer a comparable comp package without any sort of stock aspect?
- notnullorvoid 2mo agoIn my experience hype driven companies are very resistant to that even when equity/cash ratio offered is more sane.
- notnullorvoid 2mo agoIt would be a decent interview question if such a large portion of compensation did not come from equity. Otherwise it's basically the same as asking how someone would feel if all the sudden they lost 50% or more of their wealth. No one feels okay about that, except maybe the delusional few.
- 15155 2mo agoThis reads to me like an "exploitability" metric more than anything.
- jefftk 2mo agoPersonally I'd trade 50% of my wealth for a significantly large decrease in the chance that AI gets us all killed.
- 15155 2mo agoThe issue is that Anthropic is just one company and China doesn't care in the slightest - so it's an entirely moot point and almost narcissistic (on Anthropic's part) to believe that they can have any impact whatsoever on this situation.
- jefftk 2mo agoThis is why I don't expect Anthropic to stop, and so I don't expect the value of the company to go to zero. But the question is conditional on them deciding to, which (to the extent you trust Anthropic leadership which they're probably also filtering for in interviews) is conditional on believing that a decision that sent their stock to 0 would have a real impact.
- dgellow 2mo agoThe irony is of course that China is going so fast because of Anthropic, by diluting their models and learning from them. would make for a fantastic Greek tragedy if we weren’t talking about something that impacts the entire world economy and societies
- 2mo ago
- l1n 2mo agoThis rough question has been in the culture interview since at least 2021.
- realistrational 2mo agoWould your wife Email people to fund her company? Answer correctly and youre hired bub