Business 4 min read By Callum Montgomery
Anthropic asks job candidates how they would feel if its stock fell to zero
The AI company, which is targeting a November IPO valued at up to $2 trillion, is reportedly probing whether applicants are aligned with its safety-focused mission rather than chasing wealth.
Anthropic is reportedly asking job candidates during culture interviews how they would feel if the company abandoned its AI ambitions for safety reasons and its stock subsequently fell to zero. The question comes as the San Francisco-based firm targets a November initial public offering at a valuation of between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion, a figure that could eclipse SpaceX's record debut and create a new group of wealthy technology workers among its more than 2,500 employees.
According to Axios, one candidate who discussed the process on the anonymous workplace site Blind said they answered honestly that they would not be happy if the stock went to zero. "I would want to align doing the most good and remaining ethical while building a sustaining business," the candidate said. Chief executive Dario Amodei, whose estimated net worth is $13.6 billion, has reportedly voiced concern that the company's large financial incentives could weaken its ability to keep staff who are genuinely committed to its mission.
Anthropic is a public benefit corporation and has long set itself apart from rivals such as OpenAI by emphasising AI safety and the "long-term benefit of humanity". Its values statement says the mission gives the company "a shared purpose" and allows it to act swiftly together rather than being pulled in multiple directions by competing goals.
The hiring push underlines the scale of the competition for talent. Anthropic is vying for top researchers and engineers with Meta, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI, and is offering compensation packages well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Its S-1 filing, dated October 26, acknowledged that hiring and retaining qualified staff has become exceptionally difficult, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area, where it is headquartered. "Competition in our industry relating to hiring and retaining employees with appropriate qualifications and on competitive economic terms is exceptionally intense and has escalated significantly in recent periods," the company said.
Base salaries for staff software engineering roles are reported at between $350,000 and $850,000. The company currently has more than 600 open positions, including about 120 in sales, more than 60 in AI research and engineering, and 50 in security. Some candidates are reportedly paying more than $4,000 for private interview coaching to improve their chances. Aline Lerner, founder of preparation company Interviewing.io, told Bloomberg: "Spend a few thousand dollars, and now your salary goes up by $200,000 — that calculus makes sense."
The potential wealth at Anthropic is part of a wider pattern across the AI sector. Following SpaceX's $1.77 trillion IPO, thousands of current and former employees, from welders and coders to managers and executives, became millionaires as their equity rose in value, and roughly 400 current and former SpaceX staff saw stakes worth more than $100 million. As AI valuations keep climbing, similar gains are expected for more people.
Amodei has warned that the economic benefits of AI could become concentrated among a small group. He and Anthropic's other six cofounders, including his sister Daniela Amodei, have committed to giving away 80 per cent of their wealth. "The thing to worry about is a level of wealth concentration that will break society," Amodei wrote in a letter published earlier this year. He also criticised wealthy figures in the technology industry who have adopted what he called a "cynical and nihilistic attitude" towards philanthropy, arguing that "wealthy individuals have an obligation to help solve this problem".
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