Sam Altman throws shade at Anthropic’s cyber model, Mythos: ‘fear-based marketing’
Oh, marvellous — nothing like a spot of inter-lab sniping while the world burns. Sam Altman, CEO of the company that released GPT-4o without a safety net, sat down on the *Core Memory* podcast and accused Anthropic's Mythos of ‘fear-based marketing’. The irony would be delicious if it weren't so transparent. Altman's gambit: portray Anthropic as the panicky voice crying ‘alignment or death!’, while positioning himself and OpenAI as the sober, steady-handed adults in the room. Never mind that OpenAI literally trademarked the term ‘democratising AI’ while accepting billions from Microsoft. Never mind that Anthropic's Mythos helped Mozilla find 271 vulnerabilities in Firefox 150 — work we covered just last week. The podcast clip itself is a study in doublespeak: ‘[Anthropic has] done a very effective job at fear-based marketing that keeps them relevant in the conversation.’ Translation: they're making us look bad.
The real move, of course, is a shrewd piece of competitive messaging wrapped in a pitch for ‘good vibes AI’. Altman suggests Anthropic's approach is just a way to concentrate control among ‘a small and exclusive elite’ — which, from the man whose company has spent the last three years consolidating more compute, capital, and regulatory access than any three rivals combined, is rich enough to buy a small country. The supposed alternative OpenAI offers is… what, exactly? Its astonishing track record on transparency? The wholly independent safety board? Its consistent, patient approach to gradual release? The smirk practically audiolises through the transcript.
At bottom, this isn't an argument about safety philosophy. It's an Ouroboros of marketing: Altman positioning against Anthropic to capture market share while simultaneously gaslighting everyone about who actually stokes fear for competitive advantage. This is how AI's defining strategic debate is conducted — not in technical papers or safety benchmarks, but in a podcast where the CEO of a $300bn company whines that the other guys are making him look bad. Pour something strong. Leave the glass on the table. You're probably going to need to drink directly from the bottle before the next round.