Cathy Wood Criticizes Anthropic CEO for Warnings About AI Risks

Founder and CEO of ARK Invest, Cathie Wood, criticized public warnings by Anthropic's head, Dario Amodei, about the risks of artificial intelligence. In the November edition of the In The Know program, she stated that such statements contribute to spreading negative expectations about the future of AI.

The comment came after a sharp decline in the American tech market. On November 5, 2026, the Nasdaq Composite index lost 5.52% in a single trading session. Investors were evaluating the prospects for AI infrastructure development against the backdrop of the U.S. midterm election results and potential tightening of data center construction regulations.

Why Cathie Wood Disagrees with Anthropic's Forecasts

Wood believes that the discussion around artificial intelligence is overly focused on potential job cuts and other negative scenarios. In particular, she criticized Amodei's warnings about possible large-scale changes in the labor market.

In May 2025, the head of Anthropic suggested that AI development over one to five years could lead to the disappearance of up to half of entry-level office positions. In such a scenario, unemployment in the U.S., according to his estimate, could rise to 10–20%.

In the discussion of AI risks, there is also an assessment of the probability of human extinction at more than 10% over ten years. This was expressed not by Amodei himself but by Evan Hubinger, who leads AI safety research at Anthropic. Amodei previously mentioned a 25% probability of extremely adverse events, not equating this figure solely to the scenario of human extinction.

Wood Expects Increased Demand for Specialists

Cathie Wood holds a more optimistic view regarding the impact of artificial intelligence on the economy and employment.

She highlights the potential for increased labor productivity and the emergence of new fields of activity thanks to automation. As an argument, Wood cited October's U.S. labor market statistics. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of non-farm jobs increased by 165,000 against economists' forecast of about 65,000.

The unemployment rate decreased from 4.2% in September to 4.1% in October. However, these figures characterize the current labor market situation and do not allow for a definitive assessment of the long-term consequences of AI implementation.

Company Spending on AI Remains Uneven

Wood also referred to a Ramp study reflecting American companies' spending on artificial intelligence technologies.

According to data from September 2026, among companies paying for AI services, the top 1% spent an average median of about $9,568 per employee per month. For the median company, the figure was only $15.70. In Wood's opinion, the significant gap indicates that intensive AI use is currently concentrated in a limited group of enterprises.

At the same time, Ramp data shows a slowdown in spending among the most active AI users in certain months. Therefore, the difference between companies does not guarantee that the widespread adoption of the technology will occur at the same pace across all sectors.

Data Center Restrictions Create Investment Risks

An additional source of uncertainty has been local votes on data center construction in the U.S. According to Ballotpedia's calculations, in 40 out of 41 votes on November 3, voters supported restrictions on data center development or rejected initiatives favorable to their construction. These results do not imply a unified ban on AI infrastructure construction in the U.S., but they show increased local resistance to certain projects.

According to UBS, restrictions and construction delays could affect about 30% of the expected increase in U.S. data center capacity in 2028. This creates uncertainty for semiconductor manufacturers, equipment suppliers, energy companies, and cloud infrastructure operators. Meanwhile, ARK Invest is directly interested in the sector's development. ARK Venture Fund's portfolio includes Anthropic, OpenAI, and other technology companies.

Thus, the disagreements between Cathie Wood and Dario Amodei reflect two different approaches to assessing AI prospects: the expectation of productivity and investment growth on one side and warnings about social and technological risks on the other. The further impact of these factors on stock markets remains uncertain.