It’s really easy to critique bad communications work. Usually it just hits you in the face. When things go wrong, it’s difficult to miss.
When things go right, though, the strategy and execution feel organic, subtle, almost invisible to most. It’s only those of us who like to look at the machinery that notice when a beautiful plan comes together.
This was one of those weeks for Anthropic. They grabbed momentum by the throat while simultaneously stepping on OpenAI’s. And they did it at the exact moment their rival is reportedly in code-red panic mode over Google’s latest releases.
The Anchor Moments
The week started with an exclusive deep dive in The Verge about Anthropic’s societal impacts team, a nine-person group tasked with finding “inconvenient truths” about AI that companies have incentives not to publicize. The piece reinforced Anthropic’s positioning as the organization that cares most about ethics and safety. It introduced characters, gave readers a window into the team’s working style, and landed quotes like this from team lead Deep Ganguli: “We are going to tell the truth. Because, one, it’s important. It’s the right thing to do. Two, the stakes are high. These are people. The public deserves to know.”
Then came Wednesday. The Financial Times reported that Anthropic had tapped law firm Wilson Sonsini to begin IPO preparations, with a potential listing as soon as 2026. The company’s investors, according to the FT, are “enthusiastic about an IPO, arguing that Anthropic can seize the initiative from its larger rival OpenAI by listing first.”
Later that same day, Dario Amodei took the stage at the New York Times DealBook Summit. He casually dropped that Anthropic’s revenue has grown 10x every year for three years: zero to $100 million in 2023, $100 million to $1 billion in 2024, and projecting $8-10 billion by end of 2025. He talked about the macro questions facing AI, the economic implications, and the responsibilities of the people building these systems.
The FT story breaking the morning of his high-profile appearance was, I’m sure, a complete coincidence!
Then on Thursday, Daniela Amodei sat down with WIRED’s Steven Levy at their Big Interview event in San Francisco. She made the case that the market will reward safe AI, directly countering critics like Trump AI czar David Sacks who had tweeted that Anthropic is “running a sophisticated regulatory capture strategy based on fear-mongering.” Her response? Companies building on Claude want reliability and safety. “No one says, ‘We want a less safe product.’”
(A post-script here after sending the newsletter: I somehow missed that Dario and Daniela also had a Fortune cover story that ran Tuesday *and* Inc. devoted its cover to naming Claude its “Co-founder of the Year” on top of all this, which just goes to show what a thunderclap of attention this week was for them.)
The Orchestration
What makes this week remarkable isn’t any single piece. It’s how they all fit together.
The Verge piece established the safety-first credibility with a human-interest hook. The FT story signaled corporate momentum and business seriousness. Dario’s DealBook appearance let him claim the mantle of responsible AI leadership on one of the biggest business stages of the year while talking hard numbers. Daniela’s Wired conversation reinforced the values message to a tech-native audience while demonstrating that Anthropic’s leadership bench extends beyond its CEO.
Notice what they accomplished: a wonderful pairing of “we’re the responsible ones” and “we’re winning anyway.” The safety positioning and the business momentum story reinforced each other. Being careful isn’t holding them back. The market is actually rewarding it.
Every communications person reading this knows how hard this is to pull off. Anchors like the DealBook and Wired appearances were probably set months in advance. The Anthropic comms team clearly looked at those dates and asked: What can we package around these moments that furthers our goals? What story do we want the world to see this week?
The timing context matters too. All of this happened while OpenAI is reportedly spiraling about Google. When your primary competitor is in firefighting mode, you run your offense. While they probably plotted at least a few of these components well in advance (conference appearances like Dario and Daniela’s in particular), Anthropic did exactly that. Their success now appears more inevitable than ever. They have business momentum, a clear sense of what they’re building and for whom, and a bright north star guiding them on values.
Compare this to the comms posture we’ve seen from other AI leaders lately. I wrote this year about Zuckerberg’s “Personal Superintelligence” essay, which was all hat and no cattle, vibe writing with no substance.
Anthropic, by contrast, showed their work. They gave journalists access to their safety team. They put executives on stage to answer hard questions. They let reporters dig into their operations and culture. They trusted that transparency would work in their favor. And it did.
What To Take From This
Game recognizes game. This was a masterclass. A few lessons worth extracting:
Build around anchors. Major executive appearances get scheduled months ahead. The best comms teams treat those dates as tentpoles and work backward to create complementary coverage that builds a cohesive narrative.
Make sure your business story and values story reinforce each other. Anthropic didn’t position safety as a tradeoff. They positioned it as an advantage. That’s harder to do than it sounds, and it requires genuine alignment between what you say and what you do.
Put your people on stage when you have a good story to tell. Both Amodeis did real interviews with real journalists who asked real questions. Neither hid in controlled environments or stuck to softball friendly outlets. That builds credibility in ways that press releases and blog posts never will.
Know when to run offense. When your competitor is distracted, don’t sit on your hands. Make your inevitability feel... inevitable.
I didn’t talk to any comms friends or acquaintances at Anthropic before writing this, by the way, though I do broadly think they’re a talented group of folks. I just watched it unfold in real time, appreciating the craftsmanship. This is what it looks like when thoughtful planning meets skillful execution. A tip of the cap.
Love this - we need more of this sort of analysis in our industry. Thanks for writing it!
Oh but what a week they've had THIS week (Sept 7-11), with the safety researcher publicly quitting and saying they're going to kill everyone, and the head of the safety department concurring on X! What I'd give for a transcript of that morning's comms stand-up....