With the new AI wave sweeping the current job market, the CEO of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, has sounded the alarm about massive job losses in the coming years. In a recent interview with Indian podcaster and billionaire Nikhil Kamath, he stated that coding jobs will be among the first to go as companies adjust to the AI revolution.
However, recently on the All-In Podcast, American entrepreneur David Sacks highlighted that Anthropic was still hiring software engineers on its website at very steep salaries. In that context, is Dario Amodei really practicing what he is preaching? Or is there another sinister agenda playing out in the background?
So, without further delay, let’s explore what Sacks, along with other entrepreneurs like Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, and David Friedberg, had to say on this matter.
Is it hypocrisy on Anthropic’s part?
Kicking off the discussion on Anthropic’s alleged double standards, Sacks said, “Anthropic has a job listing for a software engineer on their website right now for $570,000 … So what Anthropic is saying is they’re still trying to hire software engineers at a very high wage, but somehow they think these jobs are going to be eliminated.”
Chamath then joked that he hoped his team didn’t listen to the podcast, as he could in no way match those salaries. He then shifted to a more serious note, admitting the number was high enough to worry him as a founder because it could lure away top talent.
Chamath also pointed out that with Anthropic’s large secondary equity payouts, the real compensation was even higher, making it extremely difficult for others to compete. He further stated that to compete with Anthropic’s compensation structure — including both salary and liquid equity — he would effectively need to offer around three times as much.
Continuing the discussion, Sacks stated that “something doesn’t quite add up,” as the company doesn’t seem to be “practicing what they are preaching.” To back up his statement, he showed data suggesting that job postings for software engineers are actually rising.
Sacks argued that the economy has long faced a chronic shortage of software engineers, especially outside Silicon Valley, where even Fortune 500 companies struggle to hire technical talent.
He suggested that AI will increase engineers’ productivity rather than eliminate their roles, effectively creating more “10X engineers” whose impact spreads across industries. Instead of reducing demand, he believes AI could push companies to invest far more heavily in software, transforming traditional businesses into software-driven enterprises.
“You’ve got Fortune 500 companies — non-tech companies — which have always had an even harder time hiring technical talent. So you have this massive unfilled need for software engineers across the entire economy. Now you’re going to be able to get a lot more leverage out of software engineers. It doesn’t mean they’re going to get fired. It just means that now, maybe you can have a lot more 10X software engineers, and those jobs are now being spread throughout the whole economy,” Sacks stated.
Now, it remains to be seen if Amodei’s prophecy about software job losses will come true, or if Sacks’ prediction about software engineers being more widely distributed throughout the American economic model — with the support of AI implementation — will actually lead to more demand for tech talent in non-tech companies than ever before.
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