Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger, who joined Anthropic two years ago as its chief product officer, is moving to a new focus at the AI startup: co-leading its internal incubator, called the “Labs” team.
The Anthropic Labs team started in mid-2024 with just two members; Now, the company has decided to expand by focusing on building “experimental products.” Krieger’s new title will simply be a member of the technical staff reporting to Anthropic president Daniela Amodei, and she will co-lead the Labs team with Ben Mann, who has been the company’s head of product engineering. The company said Ami Vora, the company’s current “head of product”, will take over Krieger’s duties and will work closely with Rahul Patil, the company’s chief technology officer, to enhance the products.
The company expects to double the number of Labs team members in the next six months.
in a statement to The VergeKrieger said, “We have reached a critical moment in AI – model capabilities are advancing so rapidly that the window to decide how to use them is now. That’s why I’m getting back into builder mode, stepping away from my role as CPO and joining our Labs team: I want to work hands-on at the frontier, building products that move AI toward solving the world’s toughest problems. “I’m excited to hand over the baton to Asa as she leads the team in scaling the cloud.”
Anthropic’s C-suite shake-up 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 beef up security against high-flying startups like OpenAI and Anthropic, while companies of all sizes are attempting to differentiate themselves by rebranding their long-term goal of “artificial general intelligence” (AGI). They are trying to differentiate themselves in the AI agent game by constantly outdoing each other with new features designed to dominate the market with consumers. As AI companies’ fundraising rounds have increased significantly – that is, anthropogenic Allegedly Plan to raise $10 billion at $350 billion valuation – Investors are eager to see action on its promises.
Anthropic President Daniela Amodei said in a statement The Verge That “the pace of progress in AI demands a different approach to how we build, how we organize and where we focus. Labs give us the space to break the mold and explore.”
