Elon Musk calls Anthropic’s $30 billion AI funding 'misanthropic and evil'

In the latest flashpoint of Silicon Valley’s escalating AI rivalry, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has lashed out at Anthropic, branding the company’s artificial intelligence “misanthropic and evil” after it announced a staggering $30 billion funding round at a $380 billion post-money valuation.

Anthropic, the maker of the Claude AI chatbot, shared the update on X, saying the investment would fuel deeper research, product innovation, and infrastructure growth.

“We’ve raised $30B in funding at a $380B post-money valuation,” the post read.

“This investment will help us deepen our research, continue to innovate in products, and ensure we have the resources to power our infrastructure expansion as we make Claude available everywhere our customers are.”

Within hours, Musk responded sharply on X. “Your AI hates Whites & Asians, especially Chinese, heterosexuals and men. This is misanthropic and evil. Fix it,” he wrote.

In a follow-up post, he added, “Frankly, I don’t think there is anything you can do to escape the inevitable irony of Anthropic ending up being Misanthropic. You were doomed to this fate when you chose your name.”

The remark underscores Musk’s increasingly vocal stance against what he calls ideological bias in AI systems, a theme he’s often used to contrast his own company’s approach to artificial intelligence.

xAI restructures amid growing competition

Musk’s comments come at a time when his own AI venture, xAI, is undergoing a major internal shake-up . According to Reuters, the billionaire has overhauled xAI’s management structure following its merger with SpaceX, as the company prepares for a potential initial public offering.

Several of xAI’s co-founders have reportedly departed in recent weeks.

At an all-hands meeting, Musk addressed the internal changes, saying, “We’re organising because we’ve reached a certain scale. Some people are better suited for the early stages of a company and less suited for the later stages.”

Despite the turbulence, Musk emphasised his ambitions for xAI, describing it as a company with “interstellar ambitions” and urging prospective employees to embrace its intensity. “We are hiring,” he said, “and we’re looking for intelligent and smart people. This is not an easy place to work. It’s a grind.”

xAI, which is developing its own generative AI models, is widely seen as a challenger to OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and now Anthropic, three of the biggest players in the rapidly expanding AI sector.

A rivalry shaping the AI future

Anthropic’s new funding and soaring valuation cement its place among the elite in the global AI race, trailing only OpenAI and Microsoft in scale and resources. Its Claude chatbot series has been lauded for its safety-focused design and reasoning capabilities, positioning the company as a credible alternative to Musk’s own efforts.

But Musk’s reaction highlights how competition in the AI industry has shifted from innovation alone to a clash of philosophies, between those advocating for cautious, regulated AI and those pushing for rapid, open-ended development.

With both Anthropic and xAI doubling down on their respective missions, the battle for the future of AI is not just about smarter machines, it’s about who defines what intelligence should stand for.