The Gilded Age epitomized the immense concentration of corporate power, when industrial giants like Cornelius Vanderbilt amassed so much power they could literally control time itself: Nov. 18, 1883, became known as \u201cthe Day of Two Noons\u201d after railroad companies in the U.S. and Canada created four distinct time zones across North America to replace chaotic time zones across the continent, causing many clocks to strike noon twice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Today, a new kind of concentration is emerging in the AI era, and even some of its architects\u2014including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei\u2014say they are deeply uneasy about how quickly and accidentally that power has concentrated.<\/p>\n
In an interview on the WTF Is podcast with host and Indian investor Nikhil Kamath, Amodei said part of the reason why some AI companies accumulated so much power came down to pure chance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a certain randomness to how a few people end up leading these companies that grow so fast, and it seems like, in the near future, will power so much of the economy,\u201d Amodei said.<\/p>\n
He continued, signaling his concern over that power. \u201cI\u2019ve said openly, publicly, not for the first time, that I\u2019m at least somewhat uncomfortable with the amount of concentration of power that\u2019s happening here,\u201d he said. \u201cI would say almost overnight, almost by accident.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amodei has long been vocal about his concerns over the concentration of power amid rapid AI development. The CEO published a 20,000-word essay titled \u201cThe Adolescence of Technology<\/a>\u201d in January warning about the perils of a system that amasses \u201cpersonal fortunes well into the trillions\u201d for a powerful few and grants them outsize political influence. In the essay, Amodei said he and Anthropic\u2019s six cofounders pledged to donate<\/a> 80% of their wealth amid fears of the repercussions wealth concentration could have on society.<\/p>\n Today, a handful of AI labs in the U.S. and China dominate AI development, so much so that announcements about model advancements have sent shudders across the stock market. Earlier this month, Anthropic released Claude Cowork, which contains specific plug-ins for industries like sales and finance. That release triggered a trillion-dollar software stock selloff<\/a> as investors speculated the new technology could render software-as-a-service obsolete.<\/p>\n Record-breaking AI investments are piling up wealth for the rich, adding an estimated $550 billion to the net worth of U.S. tech billionaires in 2025, as reported by Financial Times<\/a>. Tesla<\/a> shareholders last year approved<\/a> a staggering $1 trillion pay package for CEO Elon Musk, placing him on track to become the first trillionaire ever.<\/p>\n An AI tsunami on the horizon<\/p>\n Amodei says he believes AI advancement is about to skyrocket, comparing its encroaching influence to an incoming wave.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s as if this tsunami is coming at us,\u201d Amodei said. \u201cIt\u2019s so close we can see it on the horizon.\u201d<\/p>\n