Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei voiced alarm on a Monday night NBC News segment regarding “some of the things we’ve seen in the last few days,” specifically referencing the aggressive actions of Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis.
Amodei underscored the criticality of safeguarding domestic democracy, both on NBC and in a post on X where he explicitly condemned “the horror we’re seeing in Minnesota.” On NBC, he affirmed his belief in equipping democracies to defend against authoritarian states, adding that “we need to defend our own democratic values at home.” He also clarified that Anthropic has no agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Concurrently, an internal Slack communication from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to employees, leaked to the New York Times, stated, “What’s happening with ICE is going too far.”
Altman wrote, “Part of loving the country is the American duty to push back against overreach.” He continued, “There is a big difference between deporting violent criminals and what’s happening now, and we need to get the distinction right.”
Following the killing of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by Border Patrol agents, tech professionals, including staff from both OpenAI and Anthropic, have been urging their leaders to contact the White House and demand ICE’s withdrawal from U.S. cities. An open letter from tech workers also called on CEOs to sever all company contracts with ICE and publicly denounce ICE’s violent actions.
Employees advocating for CEO intervention are encouraged and hope to see more individuals join their efforts.
“We’re glad to hear the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic condemning the ICE murders,” the anonymous ICEout.tech organizers informed TechCrunch. “Now we need to hear from CEOs of Apple, Google, Microsoft and Meta, all of whom have remained silent despite calls all across the industry.”
While Amodei and Altman are taking a stance—one publicly, the other internally—both executives also included praise for President Trump in their remarks.
Amodei commended Trump’s consideration to permit Minnesota authorities to conduct an independent investigation into the shootings by federal agents, which occurred after several videos of Alex Pretti’s death became widely shared online. (It is yet uncertain if this investigation will proceed, but a growing number of Republicans have also begun to request an investigation.)
In his message to staff, Altman also conveyed encouragement regarding Trump’s recent responses, expressing hope that the president, whom he described as “a very strong leader,” would “rise to this moment and unite the country.”
Altman assured his employees that OpenAI would “try to figure out how to actually do the right thing as best we can, engage with leaders and push for our values, and speak up clearly about it as needed.” Altman has not yet publicly criticized the administration’s immigration strategy or its deployment of Border Patrol agents into American cities.
J.J. Colao, founder of PR firm Haymaker Group and a signatory on ICEout.tech’s letter, criticized Altman for attempting to “have it both ways” by praising Trump as a strong leader, “as if the president bears no responsibility for ICE’s actions.” He added: “On net, I think his statement is helpful, but the performative tribute to the president does a lot to diminish it.”
Indeed, the Trump administration’s current pro-AI policies have significantly contributed to the rapid expansion of companies like OpenAI and Anthropic over the past year. OpenAI secured at least $40 billion and is discussing an additional $100 billion at an $830 billion valuation, while Anthropic has raised $19 billion and is negotiating another $25 billion at a $350 billion valuation.
Nevertheless, such commendations for Trump represent a reversal for Altman. Prior to Trump’s first term in 2016, Altman published the following on his personal blog:
“[Trump] is not merely irresponsible. He is irresponsible in the way dictators are…To anyone familiar with the history of Germany in the 1930s, it’s chilling to watch Trump in action.”
At that time, he labeled Trump a “demagogic hate-monger” who offered the false promise that he would “Make America Great by keeping us safe from outsiders” to divert attention from his lack of a “serious plan for how to restore economic growth.” Altman acknowledged the risks involved in writing his post, concluding with a quote often attributed to Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
“This would be a good time for us all—even Republicans, especially Republican politicians who previously endorsed Trump—to start speaking up,” he wrote.
Amodei also seemed more vocal in his opposition to Trump allowing Nvidia to sell AI chips to China, describing the decision as “crazy” last week during the World Economic Forum and likening it to “selling nuclear weapons to North Korea and [bragging that] Boeing made the casings.”
Whether these CEOs fully meet the expectations of some of their employees remains to be seen. Nonetheless, considering the high stakes for their companies, even private and tempered criticisms are noteworthy.
TechCrunch has reached out to Anthropic and OpenAI for comment.
This story has been updated with comment from J.J. Colao.