'Don't just wrap Claude in a new UI': Anthropic CEO
Anthropic chief Dario Amodei has a word of caution for AI startups: don't just build apps that "wrap" around big language models like Claude without adding real value.
On Nikhil Kamath's PeopleByWTF podcast, he shared, "I would give the advice that a business should establish a moat. You shouldn't be just a wrapper. I would not advise that you just say, 'Here's a way to interact with Claude (and) I'm gonna prompt Claude a little bit,' ..."
pointing out that these kinds of startups will struggle to stand out or make money as competition heats up.
Amodei's definition of 'wrapper' and its implications
Amodei explained that "wrappers" are apps relying on someone else's AI tech but not offering much new themselves.
About 70-80% of the world's 90,000 AI startups, according to Salesforce consulting firm Ascendix and media reports, fall into this category.
The risk? Amodei warned that companies like Anthropic could build first-party, direct-to-consumer products and become competitors, potentially taking revenue that these wrappers rely on.
Advice for startups, predictions on AI's impact on jobs
His advice is simple: focus on what makes you different—maybe get deep into a specific field where you have unique expertise (like BioAI with biologists).
Amodei also predicted coding jobs will be automated by AI first, while engineering roles should stick around longer because they're more complex and people-driven.