# Daniela Amodei

Co-founders · President at Anthropic · joined 2020

An English literature major who went from congressional campaigns to Stripe and OpenAI. She now runs Anthropic day to day and chairs its board.

Full profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/anthropic/people/daniela-amodei

> “We were running towards something versus running away from something. We had this vision in our heads of wanting to create an organization where the values that matter to us around safety and around responsibility were at the forefront of what we were doing.” [1](https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/daniela-amodei-says-curiosity-underrated)

**At Anthropic:**
- Dec 2020 – present: President and co-founder
Sources: [1](https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniela-amodei-790bb22a)

**Career before Anthropic:**
- May 2020 – Dec 2020: OpenAI, VP of Safety and Policy
- Oct 2018 – May 2020: OpenAI, Engineering Manager + VP of People
- Jan 2016 – Jul 2018: Stripe, Risk Manager: Core Operations, User Policy, and Underwriting
- Aug 2015 – Jan 2016: Stripe, Risk Program Manager
- May 2013 – Jul 2015: Stripe, Lead Technical Recruiter
- Jan 2013 – May 2013: U.S. House of Representatives, Scheduling and Communications
- Jun 2012 – Nov 2012: Matt Cartwright for Congress, Field Director
- Feb 2012 – May 2012: Matt Cartwright for Congress, Deputy Field Director
- Jan 2010 – Aug 2011: IRIS Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Business Development
Sources: [1](https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniela-amodei-790bb22a)

**Education:**
- Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), English Literature, University of California, Santa Cruz
Sources: [1](https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniela-amodei-790bb22a)

**Lesser-known facts:**
- Studied English literature at UC Santa Cruz, on a classical flute scholarship. [1](https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniela-amodei-790bb22a) [2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniela_Amodei)
- Worked on a congressional campaign and in the U.S. House before tech. [1](https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniela-amodei-790bb22a)
- Spent five years at Stripe, starting as a technical recruiter and ending in risk. [1](https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniela-amodei-790bb22a)
- Says she would still major in literature if she did it over. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniela_Amodei)
- Managed the team at OpenAI during GPT-2's development before moving into safety and policy. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniela_Amodei)
- Argues that the number of jobs AI can do without people is "vanishingly small." [1](https://www.santacruzworks.org/news/daniela-amodei-and-the-return-of-the-humanities)
- Told ABC News that as AI gets more capable, the most valuable skills will be the ones that make us recognizably human. [1](https://www.santacruzworks.org/news/daniela-amodei-and-the-return-of-the-humanities)
- Looks for strong communicators with high EQ, kindness, curiosity and a desire to help others when hiring at Anthropic. [1](https://www.santacruzworks.org/news/daniela-amodei-and-the-return-of-the-humanities)
- Visited Anthropic's new London offices in July 2026, built for up to 800 staff against about 200 at the time. [1](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2026/07/02/anthropic-president-daniela-amodei-we-must-embrace-both-the-positive-side-and-the-dark-side-of-ai_6755092_19.html)
- Said in 2026: "AI is becoming a geopolitical issue. It's not just the province of business anymore." [1](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2026/07/02/anthropic-president-daniela-amodei-we-must-embrace-both-the-positive-side-and-the-dark-side-of-ai_6755092_19.html)

**Interviews and talks:**
- [Commonwealth Club conversation with Larry Baer on leading in San Francisco (2026)](https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-05-01/hometown-builders-daniela-amodei-and-larry-baer-leading-san-francisco)

**Forbes estimate:** $15.5B as of 2026-10-18 (an estimate, not a disclosed holding). [1](https://www.forbes.com/profile/daniela-amodei/)

Researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-10-18. Everyone at Anthropic: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/anthropic/people