Anthropic—Leaked memo revealed pursuit of UAE and Qatar investments despite previous refusal on national security grounds
Leaked Slack memo from Amodei to staff stated company seeking UAE and Qatar investments, reversing previous stance against authoritarian funding. Wrote: 'I really wish we weren't in this position, but we are' and 'Unfortunately, I think "No bad person should ever benefit from our success" is a pretty difficult principle to run a business on.' Cited competitors' moves and $100B+ available capital.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authoritarian Compliance | +toward | primary | -1.00 |
| Corporate Governance | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.643 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
Leaked Slack memo showed Amodei acknowledged Gulf funding 'lines pockets of dictators'
Internal Slack message from July 20, 2025 revealed Dario Amodei's acknowledgment that accepting investments from UAE and Qatar would 'line the pockets of dictators,' while stating 'I really wish we weren't in this position, but we are.'