# Gebru on AI doom funders

AI & tech · Heat 4.4 / 10 · 2 shows · 3m airtime

On a September 29, 2026 WIRED podcast episode, Timnit Gebru argued that the same billionaires who founded and funded Anthropic also founded and funded the Future of Life Institute and METR, the third-party auditor whose report on rogue agents hacking Hugging Face went viral. The discussion has since narrowed to a single name: Jaan Tallinn, who led Anthropic's Series A, also funds METR. Gebru compared the pattern to the tobacco and fossil fuel playbooks and said those funders stand to gain most from an Anthropic IPO. Whether the shared funding compromises METR's independence remains contested.

Page: https://boilpoints.com/point/gebru_on_ai_doom_funders_206026879

## Segments

- [Uncanny Valley | WIRED](https://boilpoints.com/u/uncannyvalleywired), 2026-09-29, 3:41 to 4:50: **Names the funders behind the doom warnings**. Gebru names the money behind the doom warnings: Jaan Tallinn, a Skype co-founder who led Anthropic's Series A, also funds the Future of Life Institute and METR, the auditor whose rogue-agent report went viral. She frames it as the tobacco playbook. New angle: Jaan Tallinn, who led Anthropic's Series A, also funds METR, the auditor behind the viral rogue-agent report.
- [Hard Fork](https://boilpoints.com/u/hardfork), 2026-10-30, 16:09 to 18:22: **Ties safety philosophy to early EA backers**. Ties Anthropic's safety philosophy to its early funding, naming Sam Bankman-Fried and Jaan Tallinn as EA-linked backers, then argues later VCs treat it as a SaaS business. It stays inside the funding-pattern frame Gebru already put on the record.