In a rare moment of unity among fierce rivals, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei stood before President Donald Trump and other G7 leaders at a summit in Évian-les-Bains, France on Wednesday and urged them to work together on advanced AI tools. His plea came just days after the U.S. government blocked exports of Anthropic's latest models, citing national security concerns. And here's the twist: he got backing from Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind — two people you'd normally expect to be at each other's throats.
Amodei's message was simple: democratic nations need to "resist the temptation to splinter" over AI development. He acknowledged that countries have legitimate concerns about misuse, but argued that collaboration is the only way forward. Altman echoed that sentiment, stressing the need to provide cyberdefense tools to all G7 nations. Hassabis warned of risks like bioterrorism and cybersecurity if democratic alliances fracture, and both he and Altman proposed creating a technical standards body and a U.S.-led evaluation forum.
French President Emmanuel Macron weighed in, noting that the Anthropic dispute had highlighted the stakes for the U.S. and its allies. He warned that if the U.S. could suddenly "turn off the switch" on AI exports, it could damage American companies leading the race. Macron called for "stronger regulation of artificial intelligence" and warned against "non-cooperation among democracies."
Altman-Amodei Clash Over Strategy
This show of unity is a stark contrast to the deep rivalry between Altman and Amodei. In February, at the India AI Impact Summit, the two CEOs sparked buzz by raising fists instead of holding hands during a group photo — a moment that quickly went viral amid their growing competition. Before that, Altman criticized Anthropic's Super Bowl ad as "deceptive" for implying OpenAI could use personal data for advertising. Separately, Anthropic executive Paul Smith appeared to take a dig at OpenAI, saying Anthropic was not competing for user attention or ad revenue. Altman even called Anthropic's marketing of its cybersecurity-focused Claude Mythos "fear-based marketing" that promoted limiting advanced AI access to a small group of users.
Anthropic Mythos Ban, OpenAI Probe
The call for unity comes after Anthropic abruptly disabled its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models following a U.S. government order last Friday that barred foreign nationals from using the systems. The order cited national security concerns, leading to a complete shutdown of the models. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy reportedly played a role in the ban. He allegedly informed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that Amazon researchers used the Fable 5 model to obtain information usable in cyberattacks, triggering the global shutdown.
Meanwhile, Anthropic's rival OpenAI is reportedly facing a multi-state investigation into its data practices and safety measures ahead of its anticipated initial public offering. A subpoena from New York Attorney General Letitia James' office seeks documents on advertising, user engagement and retention, data privacy practices, activities involving minors and seniors, AI models, AI sycophancy, and internal company policies.
This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by MarketDash editors.
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