The boss of one of the most successful AI companies says some of his competitors are going too far by spending too much on AI technology.
Anthropic (ANTH.PVT) CEO Dario Amodei made his comments on the AI industry in a conversation with Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday, adding that while there is risk in developing new technologies like AI, some companies are launching into an uncertain future.
“I think there is some irreducible risk here, and I definitely don’t want to deny that,” Amodei said.
“But at the same time, I think there are some players who are not managing this risk well. Who are taking reckless risks.”
Amodei hesitated when asked which company was taking such risks, but offered the idea of a consumer AI company whose margins are uncertain and which is run by someone “who, sort of, constitutionally…YOLOs.” [you only live once] things, or just likes big numbers.
Anthropic has a number of competitors in the AI space, but the biggest are Google (GOOG, GOOGL), OpenAI (OPAI.PVT), Microsoft (MSFT), and Meta (META). And while each of these companies is spending billions to develop AI, OpenAI particularly stands out with spending commitments of more than $1 trillion.
Learn more: How to protect your portfolio from an AI bubble
“I think there is a real dilemma arising from the uncertainty of how quickly the economic value will grow and the delays in building the data centers that drive it,” Amodei said of the risk of an AI bubble.
“There are certain players… who push the risk dial too far. And I’m very worried,” he explained.
The CEO also discussed the challenges of planning data center spending, explaining that he had to make funding calls for servers in 2024 for models in 2027.
Not building enough servers would mean the company wouldn’t be able to power its AI. However, excessive spending could lead to bankruptcy.
Amodei is not the only CEO warning of an AI bubble. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told a small group of journalists in August that there could be an AI bubble, according to the Verge.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also warned against overexuberance in AI spending during an appearance at Italian Tech Week in October.
Fears of an AI bubble have begun to dampen some of the enthusiasm around AI-related stocks on Wall Street. Nvidia (NVDA), in particular, has seen its stock price drop 13% over the past month, although it is up more than 33% year to date.
Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.
