Today, Anthropic has made "AI safety" its core identity, but few know that the company's co-founder and president, Daniela Amodei, once used a group of stuffed animals to discuss management issues with her husband, Holden Karnofsky.

These toys were given different personalities: some were dedicated to "fewer meetings and less self-imposed trouble," some emphasized rules, details, and execution, and others were responsible for reminding decision-makers to stay compassionate.

When facing a thorny workplace problem, Daniela and her husband would let these virtual characters each "express their opinions," simulating the choices different types of managers might make.

This rather personal, even somewhat childlike episode took place during the period when Daniela was still working at OpenAI.

During this same period, she and her brother Dario Amodei were gradually developing disagreements with OpenAI's leadership: Daniela had friction with multiple senior executives at work, while Dario began growing increasingly wary of the company's management and the direction of advanced AI development.

In 2020, the siblings ultimately decided to leave OpenAI. This split, later privately called a "divorce" by insiders, also became the starting point for Anthropic's birth.

The Atlantic recently cited journalist Kevin Roose's forthcoming book "The AGI Chronicles" to reveal this little-known experience.

Daniela said in a 2023 interview with Roose that this method was "very useful for analyzing different personality types."

From assembling a "board of advisors" out of stuffed animals back then to growing into an AI giant with thousands of employees today, Anthropic has evolved from a small AI safety startup into a major industry player.

According to media reports, the company's potential IPO valuation could approach $2 trillion.

How did a group of stuffed animals become a "board of advisors"?

This informal "advisory group" was not simply a joke, but a thinking method for simulating different decision-making styles.

Among them, Jinji was an easygoing cat who tended to reduce Amodei's workload, such as skipping unnecessary meetings; a pink bear named Maura represented the completely opposite style—organized, demanding, and detail-oriented; and a panda named Beary Bonds was designed to add more compassion and generosity to discussions.

Facing the same workplace problem, the Amodeis would let the "personalities" represented by different toys respond separately.

The real function of this method was not the toys themselves, but forcing decision-makers to temporarily step away from their own position and re-examine the problem through another personality.

In essence, this was a low-cost thought experiment: with no real external advisors, different role simulations could still break the same problem into different decision paths.

And this method was almost unknown inside OpenAI.

Beyond stuffed animals, divisions inside OpenAI were widening

At the same time, the relationship between the Amodei siblings and OpenAI was also changing.

Daniela Amodei joined OpenAI in 2018 and later moved into a technical team management role, where she had disagreements with multiple senior figures, including Greg Brockman and Mira Murati.

She and Brockman were once close. Brockman had spoken at her 2017 wedding to Holden Karnofsky, but afterward, their working relationship gradually deteriorated.

Dario Amodei became increasingly focused on OpenAI's leadership and the direction of advanced AI development, and grew increasingly wary of Sam Altman and Brockman.

At the same time, he began privately organizing activities with a group of researchers who wanted greater emphasis on the risks of powerful AI systems. Outside the company's normal structure, these people communicated and held meetings, and some colleagues called this faction "Dario's little circle."

Internal conflicts eventually reached a stage that could no longer be avoided.

In 2020, Dario began assembling a team willing to leave OpenAI and pursue advanced AI research under a different safety philosophy. Daniela became one of the central figures in this departure and was responsible for negotiating with OpenAI while the team prepared to leave.

This split was later privately referred to by those in the know as a "divorce."

One departure gave birth to an AI giant

In December 2020, the Amodei siblings formally left OpenAI and co-founded Anthropic.

Jack Clark, Sam McCandlish, Tom Brown, Chris Olah, and Jared Kaplan also participated in the company's founding, and Ben Mann was later identified as another co-founder.

Anthropic was initially just a small research institution centered on AI safety. Since then, the company has gradually expanded to thousands of employees and grown into one of OpenAI's most important competitors.

Daniela Amodei now serves as Anthropic's president and chair of the board, with authority covering most of research, engineering, product, and business operations.

Holden Karnofsky, who was once a member of OpenAI's nonprofit board, later also joined Anthropic.

From using stuffed animals to simulate managers to growing into an AI giant with thousands of employees today, this episode also witnessed Anthropic's journey from a fledgling startup to maturity.