Breaking: Trump asks the impossible of Anthropic
President Trump has reportedly asked Anthropic, the AI safety company behind Claude, to undertake a task that may be technically or ethically impossible, raising questions about the future direction of AI regulation and corporate responsibility.
Background
- Gary Marcus is a prominent AI researcher and critic, known for his skepticism of deep learning and his public debates with figures like Yann LeCun. He frequently writes about AI safety, regulation, and the limitations of current AI systems.
- Anthropic is an AI safety company founded by former OpenAI researchers, best known for creating the Claude family of large language models. Their stated mission is to build "reliable, interpretable, and steerable" AI systems.
- The Substack article title references a hypothetical or real scenario where Donald Trump (or his administration) demands something technically or ethically unfeasible from Anthropic — likely related to AI alignment, censorship, or national security.
- The post touches on the tension between AI companies' safety commitments and political pressures, a recurring theme in Marcus's criticism of the AI industry's governance.