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Dario Amodei says models will regularly do what seemed impossible in 12 months
In a Walter Isaacson interview on The Builders, published 27 October 2026, Anthropic's chief executive also describes his reaction to GPT-2 and his fortnightly talks to the company.
Check our sources · 8 facts from 2 sources
Video: The Builders on YouTube
Key points
- On GPT-2, Dario Amodei said he was "super freaked out by it": scaling it up a factor of a million would make it "better than humans at everything" (13:20).
- He said: "But we just announced that, you know, we're going to be developing drugs for, you know, neglected rare diseases" (14:36).
- Hard things would be easy in six months, he said, and "12 months from now, the things that seemed impossible, the models are going to be doing them regularly" (14:59).
What happened
The Builders, a new interview series hosted by Walter Isaacson, published an interview with Anthropic's co-founders Dario Amodei (chief executive) and Daniela Amodei (president) on YouTube on 27 October 2026.
Asked about the moment GPT-2 appeared, Dario Amodei said he was "super freaked out by it" and that he thought scaling it up another factor of a million would make it "better than humans at everything" (13:20).
He said: "But we just announced that, you know, we're going to be developing drugs for, you know, neglected rare diseases" (14:36). He also said that in six months the things that seemed hard will be easy and in 12 months the models will do regularly what seemed impossible (14:59).
He also described fortnightly talks to the company, which he calls DVQs, and said nothing he says in them is an actual decision (22:43). The captions are YouTube's automatic ones, so wording is as the captions give it.
What it means for you
Our viewThese are the views of the chief executive of a company that sells AI models, taken from YouTube's automatic captions. Amodei gives no benchmark or date for what he expects to become possible, so the 12-month statement is a forecast to note, not a basis for a budget.
If you plan AI work for next year, list the tasks your team now considers too hard and set a date to test them again against current models, at six months and at 12.
It adds no new facts.
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Check our sources
Every sentence above is checked against these 2 sources.
1 Dario & Daniela Amodei: The Rise of Superintelligent AI, the End of Human Control & Humanity's Fate
Open the source archived copy-
The watch page shows the video "Dario & Daniela Amodei: The Rise of Superintelligent AI, the End of Human Control & Humanity's Fate" on the channel The Builders, published 27 October 2026.
citetitle: Dario & Daniela Amodei: The Rise of Superintelligent AI, the End of Human Control & Humanity’s Fate; ownerChannelName: The Builders; publishDate 2026-10-27T00:01:21-07:00
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Walter Isaacson, introducing the video, says: "Welcome to the builders, my new series of interviews" (the automatic captions spell his name "Walter Isacson") and "Today I'm speaking with Dario and Daniela Amade", the captions' rendering of Dario and Daniela Amodei (00:32).
cite00:32 I’m Walter Isacson. Welcome to the / 00:34 builders, my new series of interviews ... 00:39 shaping our future. Today I’m speaking / 00:42 with Dario and Daniela Amade.
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Asked about GPT-2, Dario Amodei said: "I personally was super freaked out by it. Like I I you know I I looked at it and I said, "My god, you just scale this thing up another factor of a million and it'll be better than humans at everything."" (13:20, automatic captions; the speaker is Dario because Isaacson's question at 11:50 is addressed to him by name and this is the answer that follows)
cite13:19 [new speaker] Were you kind of surprised? 13:20 [new speaker] I personally was super freaked out by / it. Like I I you know I I looked at it / and I said, “My god, you just scale this / thing up another factor of a million and / it’ll be better than humans at / everything.”
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Dario Amodei said: “But we just announced that, you know, we’re going to be developing drugs for, you know, neglected rare diseases.” (14:36, automatic captions)
Toned down to what the source says
cite14:36 and they just dismissed it. But we just / 14:38 announced that, you know, we’re going to / 14:40 be developing drugs for, you know, / 14:42 neglected rare diseases.
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Dario Amodei said: "six months from now, the things that seemed hard, the mo they're going to be easy. 12 months from now, the things that seemed impossible, the models are going to be doing them regularly." (14:59, automatic captions; "the mo" is the captions' rendering of a half-finished word)
cite14:59 now, six months from now, the things / 15:02 that seemed hard, the mo they’re going / 15:04 to be easy. 12 months from now, the / 15:05 things that seemed impossible, the / 15:06 models are going to be doing them / 15:08 regularly.
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Dario Amodei said that for the events he calls DVQs, captions render "Dario vision quest", "one, uh, nothing I say is an actual decision." (22:43, automatic captions; the speaker names the events after himself and says "the name stuck and so now I'm stuck with it")
cite22:20 ironclad rules of these events I call / 22:23 them DVQ’s Dario vision quest ... 22:33 that. The name stuck and so now I’m / 22:35 stuck with it. ... 22:43 one, uh, nothing I say is an actual / 22:45 decision.
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Dario Amodei said: "every two weeks uh I get up in front of the I get up in front of the company and I speak for an hour". (21:59, automatic captions)
cite21:59 go. An example I will give is every two / 22:02 weeks uh I get up in front of the I get / 22:05 up in front of the company and I speak / 22:07 for an hour
2 Leadership at Anthropic
Open the source archived copy-
Anthropic's leadership page lists Dario Amodei as "Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer" and Daniela Amodei as "Co-Founder and President".
cite
Every sentence above is checked against these 2 sources. Each fact has its own address you can cite.
Source 1 · The Builders (YouTube) · 27 Oct 2026
Dario & Daniela Amodei: The Rise of Superintelligent AI, the End of Human Control & Humanity's Fate
The watch page shows the video "Dario & Daniela Amodei: The Rise of Superintelligent AI, the End of Human Control & Humanity's Fate" on the channel The Builders, published 27 October 2026.
title: Dario & Daniela Amodei: The Rise of Superintelligent AI, the End of Human Control & Humanity’s Fate; ownerChannelName: The Builders; publishDate 2026-10-27T00:01:21-07:00
Walter Isaacson, introducing the video, says: "Welcome to the builders, my new series of interviews" (the automatic captions spell his name "Walter Isacson") and "Today I'm speaking with Dario and Daniela Amade", the captions' rendering of Dario and Daniela Amodei (00:32).
00:32 I’m Walter Isacson. Welcome to the / 00:34 builders, my new series of interviews ... 00:39 shaping our future. Today I’m speaking / 00:42 with Dario and Daniela Amade.
Asked about GPT-2, Dario Amodei said: "I personally was super freaked out by it. Like I I you know I I looked at it and I said, "My god, you just scale this thing up another factor of a million and it'll be better than humans at everything."" (13:20, automatic captions; the speaker is Dario because Isaacson's question at 11:50 is addressed to him by name and this is the answer that follows)
13:19 [new speaker] Were you kind of surprised? 13:20 [new speaker] I personally was super freaked out by / it. Like I I you know I I looked at it / and I said, “My god, you just scale this / thing up another factor of a million and / it’ll be better than humans at / everything.”
Show all 7 factsShow fewer facts
Dario Amodei said: “But we just announced that, you know, we’re going to be developing drugs for, you know, neglected rare diseases.” (14:36, automatic captions)
Toned down to what the source says14:36 and they just dismissed it. But we just / 14:38 announced that, you know, we’re going to / 14:40 be developing drugs for, you know, / 14:42 neglected rare diseases.
Dario Amodei said: "six months from now, the things that seemed hard, the mo they're going to be easy. 12 months from now, the things that seemed impossible, the models are going to be doing them regularly." (14:59, automatic captions; "the mo" is the captions' rendering of a half-finished word)
14:59 now, six months from now, the things / 15:02 that seemed hard, the mo they’re going / 15:04 to be easy. 12 months from now, the / 15:05 things that seemed impossible, the / 15:06 models are going to be doing them / 15:08 regularly.
Dario Amodei said that for the events he calls DVQs, captions render "Dario vision quest", "one, uh, nothing I say is an actual decision." (22:43, automatic captions; the speaker names the events after himself and says "the name stuck and so now I'm stuck with it")
22:20 ironclad rules of these events I call / 22:23 them DVQ’s Dario vision quest ... 22:33 that. The name stuck and so now I’m / 22:35 stuck with it. ... 22:43 one, uh, nothing I say is an actual / 22:45 decision.
Dario Amodei said: "every two weeks uh I get up in front of the I get up in front of the company and I speak for an hour". (21:59, automatic captions)
21:59 go. An example I will give is every two / 22:02 weeks uh I get up in front of the I get / 22:05 up in front of the company and I speak / 22:07 for an hour
Source 2 · Anthropic
Leadership at Anthropic
Anthropic's leadership page lists Dario Amodei as "Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer" and Daniela Amodei as "Co-Founder and President".
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