The Pomp Podcast
00:16:38 · Polina Pompliano, Anthony Pompliano
[00:16:38] S1: to What is the EA community? [00:16:40] S0: Effective altruism, you know, it's kind of the SBF, kind of world, whatever. [00:16:45] S1: I I I thought that was weird that it had a resurgence when SBF was, the poster boy for the industry, and everybody was talking about effective altruism, then all that stuff happened. People were like, that was complete BS, and now it's coming back. And again, people are taking it seriously. [00:17:01] S0: Because because a [00:17:02] S1: lot of of the them. [00:17:03] S0: Because a lot of the anthropic folks, that's the world they come from. Interesting. That's how that's how Sam Bankman-Fried knew these people to make an investment. They were all part of the same community. Right? And so you you just look at it. Again, like, I... I'm not here to pass any judgment. I... I've actually gone... A lot of people, I think, judge effective altruism. I forget the gentleman who wrote the book. There's a book that was written that basically explains the whole idea of effective altruism. I bought the book, so I guess I'm a financial supporter. Right? I went and I read the book. And look, there are some [00:17:32] S1: mean, it sounds good in theory.
00:17:33 · Anthony Pompliano
[00:17:33] S0: There are some ideas that you're like, this is a good hearted, like, you know, hey, I understand what you're trying to accomplish here. I disagree with a lot of the components of it. I don't think it's, like, really how the real world works, but I can separate from things that are part of the effective altruism movement and say, hey, I like this stuff. I don't like this stuff. I think you guys are onto something here, I think you're wrong here. So it's like people just wanna paint this broad brush type thing. So put EA stuff, aside for a second. The big thing when it comes to Anthropic is ultimately going to be what are the crazy ideas they have around the technology. It's clear the technology works. It's incredible. Anyone who has used Claude, Opus, Haiku, any of this stuff, man, these guys nailed it. They got a great piece of technology, and they are scaling. But the concern that I think a lot people have is like, yo, these guys got some wonky ideas. They're talking about the machines being sentient. There's rumors that they were trying to convince the pope that the machines could have a soul. They're talking about they're gonna take, 20% or something or some percentage of their company, they're gonna, like, give it to the public. The second I hear stuff like that, I'm out. Put me on the record. The second I start hearing about Why? Let me explain how human nature works. It is very rare for one person to do something that is 100% done for the good of other people. It happens. Like, I genuinely believe Michael Dell, who gave 5 plus billion dollars to the, Invest America Trump account stuff Mhmm. I do not see how he benefits from that. Maybe there's something I don't know, but I genuinely think that that is something where they're like, hey. We wanna help the country. We wanna help these children. It... You're not giving it to an NGO that invites you to a gala. You're not, like, making friends. You're just giving money directly to individuals, which I think is the entire innovation of those Invest America accounts. These guys, they're not saying let us take the equity and just give it to the children of America. Elon said that. Elon said he's gonna take one SpaceX share, and he's gonna give it to every kid in America.
00:19:35 · Anthony Pompliano, Polina Pompliano
That's a pretty cool thing, you're ripping out the NGOs and the nonprofits, you're basically saying it's it's basically public figure directly giving to people. The same way you give $20 to a homeless person on the street, he's saying, I'm gonna give a SpaceX share to every child. That's cool. Anthropic is saying something a little bit different. They're saying the public should have a stake in the company. Sounds good. But now they're gonna take some of the shares, and it's unclear exactly how many because they always make promises, and who knows what actually gets put there. But they wanna take it, they basically wanna put it to the public benefit. But they're gonna be in control of it. Well, that sounds a lot like power accumulation to me. [00:20:16] S1: Why? Well If, of course, you're gonna be in control of it, they own the company. [00:20:20] S0: Elon's not. Elon's gonna take a share of SpaceX and give it to the kid. The kid can do whatever they want when they turn 18. He... He's he's not hoarding it and saying, well, maybe I'll give you something, maybe I won't. He's he's just saying, I'm just gonna give you the share. He's done. So what are [00:20:34] S1: they trying to do with the share?
00:20:34 · Polina Pompliano, Anthony Pompliano
[00:20:34] S1: they trying to do with the share? [00:20:36] S0: Unclear, which is why immediately my antenna goes up. Because when I hear people saying, oh, I have... You know, I I just wanna help everybody else, all stuff. Like, yo, you think... Do you think we're dumb? Do you think we're stupid? You're gonna take five to 20% of your company. You're gonna put in this public beneficiary thing, there's gonna be no fuckery going on. Stop it. Who's in charge of it? Why do they get to make the decisions? How are you gonna allocate the capital? How do we know that you're not gonna use that for your personal benefit or for the company's benefit and actually not help people? So if you really wanted Americans to have a stake, then I challenge Anthropic to take the shares and give it direct to the kids. Adults don't need your shares. We all can go buy our shares on the stock mortgage like everybody else. If you really think that you're gonna build this massive company and you wanna help people, take the shares and put it in the Invest America accounts. Because anything else introduces bureaucracy, potential corruption, potential fuckery. And so instead, if you really... If this is genuinely a thing where you are saying, we want to help people, which by the way, maybe I'm wrong, and that's actually how they're thinking about it, then prove it with your actions, not your words. Take the shares, and give it direct to the kids. Because Michael Dell did it. Elon Musk did it. Why isn't Anthropic doing it? [00:21:56] S1: I'm sure there's reasons
00:21:56 · Polina Pompliano, Anthony Pompliano
[00:21:56] S1: I'm sure there's reasons [00:21:58] S0: beyond There might be, but, like, we should ask those questions. [00:22:00] S1: Of course. [00:22:01] S0: An investigative journalist should go figure that out. I'm not a journalist. I don't have that skill set. I don't have the temperament to do that, but that is a great question. Is why at the exact same moment that Elon Musk is taking 10 plus billion dollars, the largest philanthropic gift ever, and he's giving it direct to people with no NGO and no profit in between him and the person. Why is Anthropic not doing the same thing? They're claiming they're doing the same thing, but mechanically, they're not. I got questions. [00:22:30] S1: Great. So you published this tweet with your investing lessons. [00:22:35] S0: Before we get to my investing lessons, can you tell me about Buddy Shah? [00:22:40] S1: So I wrote yesterday an article You didn't think [00:22:43] S0: I was gonna ask you about I [00:22:44] S1: did not think. [00:22:45] S0: Tables have turned. [00:22:46] S1: About this man whose name appears on page 145 of the Anthropic s one filing. His name is Buddy Shah, and he is arguably one of the most powerful people at Anthropic. He is not on payroll. He does not own stock. He is prevented from buying any stock. And his whole purpose is he's the chair of the company's long term benefit trust, and he basically helps oversee a trust that has the power. Why are you smiling at me? [00:23:19] S0: Because I set you all up. I did... I threw the softball up. Go ahead. Tell me about Buddy Shah.
00:23:19 · Anthony Pompliano, Polina Pompliano
[00:23:19] S0: Because I set you all up. I did... I threw the softball up. Go ahead. Tell me about Buddy Shah. [00:23:23] S1: That has the power to appoint and remove any portion of the... Of Anthropic's board. So my question is, why give this man all this power? And my question in the article is... Or my statement, I guess, is what is worse than having an AI decide what it thinks is best for humanity. A man... Another human who thinks he knows what's best for humanity. [00:23:53] S0: Prime example of fuckery. [00:23:55] S1: Well, you know, we don't know. I mean, they're they're trying to stay [00:23:57] S0: It's impossible. [00:23:58] S1: It's impossible. No. It's impossible. And in in in the article, I say, like, even if you have no financial stake in the company, you can still make the wrong decision. You're influenced. You talk to people. Like, it's it's not a guarantee. [00:24:12] S0: The second I hear he doesn't have equity, fuckery going on. The second I hear [00:24:17] S1: The whole point is independence, that he can't be swayed by having a financial incentive. [00:24:22] S0: Independent directors on boards in the public market have equity. They get paid in equity. [00:24:29] S1: They're independent. How independent are they, though? [00:24:31] S0: Because they're supposed to have skin in the game. How can you have the best interest of something if you don't have skin in the game? It's all a mirage. It's all smoke and mirrors. It is all like we are here from Anthropic to save you. [00:24:45] S1: You really don't like Anthropic.