Anthropic CEO Warns Of AI-Led Inequality

“Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei predicted a future in which artificial intelligence will spur significant economic growth -- but could lead to widespread unemployment and inequality.

 

Amodei is both "excited and worried" about the impact of AI, he said in an interview at Davos on Tuesday with Wall Street Journal Editor in Chief Emma Tucker. "I don't think there's an awareness at all of what is coming here and the magnitude of it."

 

Anthropic is the developer of the popular chatbot Claude.

 

Amodei said the government will need to play a role in navigating the massive displacement in jobs that could result from advances in AI. He said there could be a future with 5% to 10% GDP growth and 10% unemployment. "That's not a combination we've almost ever seen before," he said. "There's gonna need to be some role for government in the displacement that's this macroeconomically large."

 

Amodei painted a potential "nightmare" scenario that AI could bring to society if not properly checked, laying out a future in which 10 million people -- 7 million in Silicon Valley and the rest scattered elsewhere -- could "decouple" from the rest of society, enjoying as much as 50% GDP growth while others were left behind.

 

"I think this is probably a time to worry less about disincentivizing growth and worry more about making sure that everyone gets a part of that growth," Amodei said. He noted that was "the opposite of the prevailing sentiment now," but the reality of technological change will force those ideas to change.

 

Amodei said he has told that to members of the Trump administration. He said he agreed with most of the guidance in Trump's AI action plan, which was released in July, and will be speaking to officials during his trip to Davos.

 

When it came to social responsibility, he drew a distinction between the AI companies that were run by scientists -- such as himself and Demis Hassabis at Alphabet -- and those run by leaders who were formed by their work at social-media companies.

 

He said scientists focus on the effects of the technology they build, "not ducking responsibility."

 

In contrast, he said, business incentives shaped social-media entrepreneurs. "The way in which they interacted with -- you might say manipulated -- consumers is very different," he said.

 

Some of Anthropic's biggest rivals in AI include Meta Platforms, which runs Facebook and Instagram, and OpenAI, whose CEO, Sam Altman, co-founded a location-based social network.

 

He also drew a contrast between Anthropic, which has chosen to focus on the enterprise market, and OpenAI and Google, whose focus on the consumer market "leads to needing to maximize engagement," he said.” [1]

 

1. Anthropic CEO Warns Of AI-Led Inequality. Keach Hagey.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 21 Jan 2026: B1.