Why Anthropic’s talent strategy will help them win the AI race
Anthropic is one of the world’s leading AI research labs. But compared to Google, Meta, and OpenAI, they’re actually the new kid on the block.
Once named AI Safety Lab, the company was founded only three years ago by ex-OpenAI VPs Dario and Daniela Amodei. (In comparison, Google's AI efforts started in 2011 with Google Brain; Meta began formally conducting AI research in 2013; and OpenAI was founded in 2015.)
Yet, their model Claude 3.5 Sonnet is said to outperform OpenAI’s most advanced model (GPT-4) on several standard AI evaluation benchmarks.
“OpenAI leaders got a shock when they saw the performance of Anthropic's artificial intelligence models for automating computer programming tasks... gained an edge on OpenAI's models, according to its own internal benchmarks,” says one article from The Information.
Anthropic’s secret? They’ve made talent their competitive advantage.
The team is highly talented. Just as importantly, they’re really good at hiring other really talented people, and retaining them in a hyper-competitive industry.
Here’s how they do it:
Building foundations for a mission-driven team
OpenAI brought AI to the masses with ChatGPT. Anthropic is playing a similar game with a different angle: responsible AI innovation with a laser focus on safety, interpretability, and societal impact.
As a public benefit corporation, they're legally bound to balance private and public interests. This shapes not just their products, but the talent they bring on board. They seek candidates who:
- Show a passion for AI safety and ethics;
- Grasp the full implications of and risks associated with powerful AI systems;
- Share Anthropic's vision of developing ethical and safe AI.
This alignment-first approach does two things: it drives their mission forward while ensuring everyone is directionally aligned on product decisions.
In a bold move that underscores their commitment, they've just hired their first full-time employee focused on AI welfare. This role will investigate the implications of “model welfare”, exploring whether we have moral obligations to AI systems. The question prompts practical recommendations for Anthropic, while potentially reshaping how we think about artificial intelligence.
Leveraging unified job titles
Every technical employee at Anthropic, from fresh hires to early execs, shares the same title: Member of Technical Staff (MTS). This isn't just corporate branding – it's a smart move that:
- Defends against poaching. Everyone being an MTS makes harder for competitors to identify seniority and target specific experience levels through LinkedIn.
- Reinforces company culture. The titles show how the company operates; Anthropic values research over hierarchical decision-making.
- Maintains security: It keeps team structure opaque in a competitive field. It’s harder for someone to infer an employee’s research specialization from generic titles.
- Breaks down the researcher/engineer divide. How companies like Anthropic structure their organizations can significantly shape how AI companies structure their teams going forward. Their unified title approach could create more versatile talent who excel at both building and theorizing.
"Engineers here do lots of research, and researchers do lots of engineering. While there’s historically been a division between engineering and research in machine learning, we think that boundary has dissolved with the advent of large models.”
Redefining “qualified”
Didn’t go to college, or don’t have previous ML experience on your resume? It matters less than you think. Anthropic seeks direct evidence of ability, prioritizing personal accomplishments like conducting independent research, publishing an insightful blog post, or making substantial contributions to open-source software over conventional credentials.
Technical ML skills still matter – they'll test those during interviews. But by looking beyond conventional qualifications, they're tapping into talent pools with diverse perspectives their competitors might miss.
Going beyond basic benefits
When some companies are bragging about ping pong tables or framing federal vacation days as a ‘perk’, Anthropic is offering robust benefits that make a real difference. It's a simple formula: if you want exceptional talent, provide exceptional support. Too many companies say they want the best talent without providing the conditions that make “yes” easy for the highly qualified.
Some of Anthropic’s benefits include 22 weeks of parental leave in the US, a $500 per month “wellness and time saver benefit”, and generous mental health support for dependents.
Steal Anthropic’s talent playbook
You don't need to be in AI to learn from Anthropic's hiring strategy. Start by asking yourself these questions:
- Do your hiring principles truly reflect your company’s current values? If not, how can you better align your recruitment strategy with your operational strategy?
- Are your job titles serving your organizational goals, or just feeding egos? Maybe “lead growth ninja” makes sense for you, but somehow, I doubt it.
- Can you clearly articulate why top talent should choose you over a similar competitor? If you don’t have a good answer, you can’t expect your interviewees to either.
- What would make an exceptional candidate pause their interview process with a FAANG company to talk to you instead? What are the benefits that really matter to your top 0.1% candidates?
In the end, Anthropic's success comes down to alignment: between their mission and their hiring, between their culture and their org structure, and between the environment they promise candidates and what they deliver.
Their rapid rise – and long-term talent retention in the competitive AI industry – proves that in the war for talent, the biggest checkbook doesn't always win.
What matters is building a company where exceptional people can do their best work, and feel valued doing it.
Start your search today.
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