Nathan Lambert, who led post-training on the open OLMo model at AI2, took to X on June 9 to question why Anthropic has adopted increasingly hostile stances first toward China, then open-weight models, and now open AI research more broadly, asking what comes next and reminding leadership that safe AI development is a collective effort rather than a solo mission.
I don't really want to have to go to bat against Anthropic, but they've just been unnecessarily antagonistic to all of China, then not so subtly to open weight models, and now more broadly open AI research. What's next on the list?
Replies from figures like Stella Biderman and Kawin Ethayarajh quickly reframed the post around monopoly concerns and potential backlash, though the original message stops short of those interpretations and leaves the exact triggers for Lambert's critique unspecified.
The exchange highlights ongoing friction between closed labs and open-research advocates without new evidence on Anthropic's specific actions, leaving readers to weigh how such public spats might shape future collaboration norms.
Many users criticized Anthropic's antagonism toward open AI research and Dario's self-image as a moral authority on China competition as profit-driven, dystopian, and aimed at world domination with restricted model access.
The longer version: https://www.interconnects.ai/p/claude-fable-5-and-new-ai-safety
I don't really want to have to go to bat against Anthropic, but they've just been unnecessarily antagonistic to all of China, then not so subtly to open weight models, and now more broadly open AI research. What's next on the list?
I think this is still a xiaoren reading of Dario. He's not a national security guy (tbh I can't trust unquestioning natsec guys in Trump era) nor a zoological racist, and neither is he a simple merchant. What he is, however, is a lib hegemonist. China is a problem on ALL levels.
I don't really want to have to go to bat against Anthropic, but they've just been unnecessarily antagonistic to all of China, then not so subtly to open weight models, and now more broadly open AI research. What's next on the list?
never has been about USA vs China specifically *taps the sign*
I don't really want to have to go to bat against Anthropic, but they've just been unnecessarily antagonistic to all of China, then not so subtly to open weight models, and now more broadly open AI research. What's next on the list?
@natolambert @Ishaank1999 This is as bad as it gets! Every day of delay in finding cures costs many lives, totally on Anthropic! They are antagonistic to humanity not just China!
Spoiler: You're going to hate Anthropic a lot more than you ever hated OpenAI, and wish the Trump admin's DPA artery cut had succeeded on raw utilitarian grounds.
@natolambert Haven't they stated that ideally they'd like to be the only ones to create superintelligence because of the risks it poses? Their actions all seem consistent with that goal.
I don't really want to have to go to bat against Anthropic, but they've just been unnecessarily antagonistic to all of China, then not so subtly to open weight models, and now more broadly open AI research. What's next on the list?
@natolambert Anthropic has never hidden their view that AI is dangerous and needs to be controlled by authorities. This is alignment for them
Dario is going for world domination.
He has already told us the future he prefers. A future where you have no job and no access to frontier models, so he and his goons can discover everything for you.
He wants you to sit back and collect UBI and not even think about training your own models. No need, he has the best models. Your learning how to do it yourself is a waste of time because in 8 months, no one will have a job.
Chyna obviously wants to build a world where Dario's upside is sharply capped, where even he has to hustle to eke out a meager margin. But the worst part is that in that world, he also cannot impose his values (or lib values) on anyone outside his organization. therefore, THD!
I think this is still a xiaoren reading of Dario. He's not a national security guy (tbh I can't trust unquestioning natsec guys in Trump era) nor a zoological racist, and neither is he a simple merchant. What he is, however, is a lib hegemonist. China is a problem on ALL levels.
Never leaving this app.
@natolambert Nathan, worth remembering that most major U.S. tech companies/products (Google, Meta, X, IG, ChatGPT, Claude etc.) are outright blocked in China for political reasons, which could also be read as antagonistic. The reverse isn’t true.
@natolambert so this is what they meant by permanent underclass. it's the systematic blocking of any means of catching up.
ironically, this will only force moonshot and deepseek to get even better at their game. kimi k3 is going to be a banger, and so will deepseek v4.1.
@natolambert Next on the list is being antagonistic to humanity.
I don't really want to have to go to bat against Anthropic, but they've just been unnecessarily antagonistic to all of China, then not so subtly to open weight models, and now more broadly open AI research. What's next on the list?
@natolambert Yeah I feel like every decision they’ve made recently has made me more unfavorable towards them. Very much anti open source and anti science IMO.
They have to be. Excepting the Fable release today, the hard reality is that the leading open weights (mainly Chinese) models are remarkably close to them in coding, especially in an orchestrated (and adversarial) looping environment that refines the output code. And for a fraction of the cost.
@woke8yearold @natolambert and by "authorities" they mean themselves exclusively
@natolambert codex looking nice
@natolambert @afrazhaowang If you can’t distinguish between anti-communist and anti-China then you’ve wasted your China trip. Sad to see you going down this mundane path of panda hugging after some fancy touring. I used to like your stuff. Sad.
@woke8yearold @natolambert Blue authorities. They balked at red America control.
Nathan Lambert, who led post-training on the open OLMo model at AI2, took to X on June 9 to question why Anthropic has adopted increasingly hostile stances first toward China, then open-weight models, and now open AI research more broadly, asking what comes next and reminding leadership that safe AI development is a collective effort rather than a solo mission.
I don't really want to have to go to bat against Anthropic, but they've just been unnecessarily antagonistic to all of China, then not so subtly to open weight models, and now more broadly open AI research. What's next on the list?
