【AI MAFIA】From OpenAI to Anthropic: The New AI Titans You Need to Know

AI Boom: Familiar Faces in New Places – The Rise of AI’s Version of the PayPal Mafia

The AI industry is experiencing a surge of talent movement reminiscent of the early 2000s PayPal Mafia, where former employees went on to lead giants like Tesla, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Today, executives are hopping between AI juggernauts or launching their ventures, creating a dynamic talent network rooted in companies like OpenAI, Google, and Apple.

The OpenAI Exodus

OpenAI alumni have founded some of the most influential AI companies today. In 2021, OpenAI’s VP of Research, Dario Amodei, and his sister Daniela, VP of Safety and Policy, left to create Anthropic. They brought along nine former OpenAI employees and now produce Claude, a popular AI chatbot competing with ChatGPT. Recently, Jan Leike joined them after leaving OpenAI over safety concerns.

Former OpenAI researcher Aravind Srinivas co-founded Perplexity, an AI search engine. Despite facing plagiarism accusations, Perplexity competes directly with OpenAI’s developing search function. OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever left in May to start Safe Superintelligence Inc., focusing on safe AI development.

Elon Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, left in 2018, citing conflicts of interest. Musk now leads xAI, which has raised $6 billion, continuing his influence in the AI sector.

Other ex-OpenAI employees have also started successful ventures. Tim Shi founded Cresta, an AI service for contact centers, Jonas Schneider founded Daedalus, an AI precision manufacturing company, and Josh Tobin founded Gantry, a machine learning infrastructure firm.

Google’s AI Pioneers

Google’s AI talent has also seeded new companies. Upstart, an AI lending platform, was co-founded by Google alums Dave Girouard and Anna Counselman. Nuro, an autonomous vehicle company, was founded by Google engineers Jiajun Zhu and Dave Ferguson. DeepMind, acquired by Google in 2014, has also seen its talent move on to create Mistral, Europe’s most valuable AI company, and Inflection AI, founded by Mustafa Suleyman.

Apple’s Late Entry and Talent Spread

Despite joining the AI race later, Apple’s former talent is making waves. Imran Chaudhri, a former Apple designer, founded Humane, an AI consumer electronics company. Ari Weinstein and Conrad Kramer, after selling Workflow to Apple, launched an AI desktop app company with ex-Apple manager Kim Beverett.

The Drive Behind the Talent Migration

AI historian HP Newquist attributes this industry-wide talent shift to tech workers’ desire to lead and innovate. Being associated with major companies like OpenAI or Apple significantly boosts the success of new ventures. Newquist notes, “It’s hard to do it organically if you’re not part of that ecosystem.”

With the AI industry booming and startups receiving massive seed funding, Newquist warns of potential fallout from explosive growth. However, the current trend highlights the transformative impact of these AI pioneers.