'Misanthropic and evil': Elon Musk takes swipe at Anthropic in AI bias row

Elon Musk criticised Anthropic after its major fundraising announcement, accusing the company's AI systems of bias and intensifying an ongoing rivalry between the two firms

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Friday launched a sharp attack on artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic, calling it “misanthropic and evil” after the firm announced a massive new fundraising round.

 

His comments came in response to the company’s post on X about its latest capital raise, which is among the biggest technology funding rounds ever.

 

Replying to Anthropic’s announcement, Musk wrote on X, "Your AI hates whites & Asians, especially Chinese, heterosexuals and men. This is misanthropic and evil. Fix it."

 

He also mocked the company’s name, adding, "Frankly, I don’t think there is anything you can do to escape the inevitable irony of Anthropic ending up being Misanthropic. You were doomed to this fate when you chose your name. The Name of the Wind." 

 

  Musk runs AI startup xAI, which competes directly with Anthropic’s Claude AI model.

 

Earlier this week, Musk announced that he is reorganising xAI following the departure of two co-founders and several staff members. The meeting took place after co-founders Jimmy Ba and Tony Wu left the startup along with other team members in recent days. 

 

Musk’s earlier jabs at Anthropic

 

This is not the first time Musk has criticised the company. Last month, he wrote on X: “Not quite on programming, but it will excel in other areas. Anthropic has done something special with coding. It was a helpful motivator that they cut us off [xAI] and not good for their karma.”

 

Later, he again mocked the firm’s name, writing, “Always worth remembering that fate loves irony. The most ironic outcome for a company named [Anthropic] would be that it is the most misanthropic!”   

 

Anthropic closes massive funding round

 

Anthropic on Thursday announced that it had raised $30 billion in fresh funding, valuing the company at $380 billion.

 

In its post on X, the company said, “We’ve raised $30 billion in funding at a $380 billion post-money valuation. This investment will help us deepen our research, continue to innovate in products, and ensure we have the resources to power our infrastructure expansion as we make Claude available everywhere our customers are.”

 

Musk’s criticism came directly in response to this announcement.