“Misanthropic and evil”: Musk slams Anthropic amid Big Tech stock sell-off

Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla, has criticised rival artificial intelligence firm Anthropic after its latest updates were linked to a sharp sell-off in the shares of enterprise software firms. He accused the company’s AI models of being “misanthropic and evil”.

Posting on the social media platform X, Musk wrote, “Your AI hates Whites & Asians, especially Chinese, heterosexuals and men. This is misanthropic and evil. Fix it.”

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 Name of the Wind.”


(The Name of the Wind is a 2007 fantasy novel by Patrick Rothfuss, the first book in The Kingkiller Chronicle trilogy.)

Why the comments?

Musk’s remarks followed Anthropic’s announcement on X that it had completed a massive new private funding round, reportedly one of the largest by a technology firm in recent years.

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

“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,” the company added.

Musk’s own AI venture, xAI, competes directly with Anthropic’s Claude chatbot through its Grok platform. In recent months, competition between the two firms has intensified, especially after reports suggested that Anthropic had cut off xAI’s access to its Claude models.

This is not the first time Musk has taken aim at the company’s branding. He previously mocked its name, saying, “Always worth remembering that fate loves irony. The most ironic outcome for a company named @AnthropicAI would be that it is the most misanthropic!”

Anthropic vs Anthropic

Separately, Anthropic is facing legal action from a domestic software firm which claims earlier use of the same name. According to a report by TechCrunch, India-based Anthropic Software has filed a case in a commercial court in Karnataka in January asserting that it’s been operating under this name since 2017, and argued that the US firm’s recent entry into India has created confusion among its clients.

The Indian company is seeking official recognition of its prior use of the name, measures to prevent further confusion, and damages of Rs 10 million (around $110,000).

The dispute comes as Anthropic increases its focus on India. The firm revealed plans for an Indian office last October and appointed former Microsoft India managing director Irina Ghose to head its local operations, highlighting the country’s growing importance for global AI players expanding beyond north America and Europe.

Anthropic Software founder and director Mohammad Ayyaz Mulla told TechCrunch that the company’s goal is clarity rather than confrontation, though further legal steps would remain an option if an agreement cannot be reached.