Mike Krieger, the Instagram co-founder who joined Anthropic two years ago as chief product officer, is focused on a up-to-date goal at the AI startup: co-leading its internal incubator, called the “Labs” team.
The Anthropic Labs team launched in mid-2024 with just two members; now the company has decided to expand it, focusing on building “experimental products”. Krieger’s up-to-date title will simply be as a technical staff member reporting to Anthropic president Daniela Amodei, and he will co-lead the lab team with Ben Mann, who was the company’s product engineering manager. Ami Vora, the company’s current “head of product,” will take over Krieger’s duties and will work closely with the company’s chief technology officer Rahul Patil to scale the products, the company said.
The company hopes to double the number of Labs team members in the next six months.
In a statement to EdgeKrieger said: “We’ve reached a pivotal moment in AI – model capabilities are evolving so rapidly that it’s time to figure out how to use them. That’s why I’m returning to builder mode, stepping down from my CPO role and joining our team in the labs: I want to be a pioneer, building products that drive AI towards solving the world’s toughest problems. I’m looking forward to passing the baton to Ami, who is leading the team in scaling Klaudiusz.”
Anthropic’s management revolution comes at a time when competition between AI startups and tech giants has never been fiercer. Tech giants like Apple and Google are trying to shore up defenses against high-growth startups like OpenAI and Anthropic, while companies of all sizes are trying to differentiate themselves by rebranding their long-standing goal of “artificial general intelligence” (AGI). They are also trying to differentiate themselves in the AI agent game by constantly improving with up-to-date features designed to appeal to the consumer market. As AI companies’ fundraising rounds grow significantly – i.e. Anthropic is apparently plan to raise $10 billion at a $350 billion valuation — investors are eager to see their promises delivered.
– said Anthropic president Daniela Amodei in a statement Edge that “the speed of progress in artificial intelligence requires a different approach to how we build, how we organize and what we focus on. Labs give us the space to break patterns and discover.”