What Shaped Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s Thinking on A.I. - The New York Times
Some call him a doomer. Others see him as a responsible technologist. Here’s how Dario Amodei’s thinking on artificial intelligence was shaped. Credit... Ūla Šveikauskaitė Supported by By Ryan MacKalley HuangCade Metz and Georgia Gee Ryan Mac, Kalley Huang and Cade Metz reported from San Francisco, and Georgia Gee from New York. One night in 2007, Dario Amodei regaled a friend who was visiting him at Princeton University with his thoughts on “The Singularity Is Near,” a 2005 treatise by the computer scientist Ray Kurzweil. Dr. Amodei had just read the book, in which Mr. Kurzweil predicted that artificial intelligence would eventually surpass the human brain in a moment known as the Singularity. As he twisted his hair with his fingers, Dr. Amodei told his friend, Colin Heckman, that the milestone could happen within their lifetimes. “He became obsessed,” said Mr. Heckman, who went to high school with Dr. Amodei in San Francisco. “He said A.I. had to be built right, or we’re going to be