Watch: SNL roasts Anthropic CEO over his AI slowdown comments
What's the story
Dario Amodei, the CEO of AI company Anthropic, has been mocked on a popular US television show, Saturday Night Live (SNL). The parody came after Amodei's recent "AI slowdown" comments and his company's launch of a new model, Opus 5.5. In the skit, SNL cast member Jane Wickline impersonated Amodei and played up his warnings about artificial intelligence (AI) as a dark comedy.
Parody details
The skit and its significance
The SNL skit, hosted by Michael Che, highlighted the growing friction between AI firms creating powerful tech and their leaders' warnings about potential risks.
Wickline's Amodei impersonation was spot-on with his curly hair and glasses.
The character was shown as a nervous CEO trying to warn viewers about the dangers of AI while making his case for control measures.
Character challenges
The parody in detail
The parody started with Wickline's Amodei addressing his recent AI warnings.
The character said that while his comments may have alarmed people, there's a way to control the technology.
However, things got awkward when Che asked how Anthropic could make sure that AI wouldn't harm humans in the future.
The spoofed Amodei struggled to answer this tough question, which shouldn't be difficult for an AI company CEO.
Character duality
Two sides of Wickline's Amodei
The parody also showed two sides of Wickline's Amodei.
One side tried to act like a calm, media-trained tech executive while the other was a darker version who seemed to say what the CEO was really thinking.
As he struggled with the interview, the media-trained version encouraged him, saying, "Come on, Dario, you can do this."
The darker version simply replied, "I know."
Controversial remark
'We do not condone what we are doing'
The skit took a turn when the spoofed Amodei said, "AI is the devil, and I its maker." He then tried to backtrack by mentioning other AI leaders.
The character said, "Look, Sam Altman, myself, all the major AI players, we have talked about this extensively, and we are all on the same page here."
But when Che asked what that page said, he replied with a rather alarming statement: "We do not condone what we are doing."
Ending scenes
2 versions of Amodei seemingly argued
The sketch ended with the two versions of Amodei seemingly arguing with each other.
The media-trained version told himself, "Land the plane, Dario," to which the darker version replied, "I can't."
The fictional Amodei then delivered the segment's closing line: "AI is not a weapon, it's a tool... a tool for building weapons. And I urge you to urge me to stop."