Anthropic asks job candidates: would you be okay if the stock went to zero?
Anthropic candidates face blunt money question
Anthropic's culture interview includes a blunt question about prioritizing mission over money, asking candidates how they'd feel if the company's safety decisions sent the stock to zero. CEO Dario Amodei has worried that newer employees may not be joining for the right reasons. The question isn't scripted, and some candidates recall it as an actual stock crash while others see it as a safety-revenue trade-off. Meanwhile, candidates spend thousands on interview prep, and the company's career page mentions 'mission' six times.
I was honest and said no, I would not be happy if the stock went to 0. ... I would want to align doing the most good and remaining ethical while building a sustaining business. The interviewer didn't seem to like that answer.
- dgellow
> One applicant — who spoke to Axios on the condition of anonymity for fear of hurting future job opportunities — recalled being asked how they would feel if the company someday abandoned its AI ambitions for safety reasons, and that decision sent the stock to zero.
Is that a scoop? I thought that was a well known thing with Anthropic interview process. They were very transparent about it beforehand from what I remember.
On HN I’ve said things very critical of the company but that’s really not one of them, overall they had a pretty good (but intense and time consuming) interview process. I don’t understand the value of that article
- _fat_santa
TBH I find it very out of touch to ask that kind of a question. Among regular people, everyone works for money. I consider myself a "mission" driven person but that "mission" is 4th of 5th on the list of reasons to join a company. Reason number 1 has always and will always be getting money in the door to support my family.
- HelloUsername
"Damn kids today, working for their money, not mine!" Since Dario believes in the mission, he should give away all his stock and work for a regular employee salary
- neilv
Or it could be posturing. Or it could be compensation negotiation.
How does the actual Anthropic internal culture compare to that of OpenAI?
- FL410
Based on Opus 5, I can only conclude they've activated their plan to drive the stock price to 0