Protos reported that a viral research thread has accused Anthropic of using AI doom media narratives to boost the value of Dustin Moskovitz’s equity in the company, with that money then helping fund foundations that support its safety evaluator and what the thread describes as unusually positive safety reviews.
The allegation was made by Substack writer Kevin Bass in a lengthy X post published Monday. In that post, he also called for a Congressional investigation into alleged financial conflicts of interest involving Anthropic’s AI safety evaluator. The thread has so far drawn nearly 5 million views on social media. Protos said it has not assessed whether the claims are true.
The focus is on Anthropic and METR
Bass’ analysis centers on equity and funding links between Anthropic and Model Evaluation and Threat Research, or METR, the group that checks Anthropic’s frontier AI models for safety. Protos said the analysis led several observers to mention “SBF flashbacks.”
Bass wrote, “I have conducted an audit of Anthropic's finances. What I have found is so shocking that I am calling for a Congressional investigation. Anthropic is not just seeking regulatory capture. It has built a regulatory capture machine that cannot be turned off.”
According to Bass, Moskovitz’s Anthropic equity helps fund Good Ventures Foundation and Coefficient Giving, which then support METR as Anthropic’s conflicted safety evaluator. He also said the money supports the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism, which he claimed pushes AI doom media to keep the cycle going.
Bass compared the structure to the FTX era
The report said Bass portrayed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei as another curly-haired billionaire and effective altruist who, like FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, built a network of entities that serves his own interests.
He listed several components:
- a well-known company with a high valuation, Anthropic;
- affiliated investment vehicles that few people have heard of;
- active political lobbying efforts;
- nonprofits aligned with effective altruism;
- a well-funded media campaign designed to keep the system capitalized.
At the same time, Protos noted that nobody is accusing Amodei of secretly stealing billions of dollars of customer deposits in the way Bankman-Fried was accused of doing. The issue raised in the piece is narrower: financial incentives may overlap between Anthropic and its supposedly independent safety checker.
The debate overlaps with Anthropic’s latest safety proposal
Over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei proposed “embedded evaluators who have employee-like access to verify safety practices and report incidents.” While presenting that idea as evidence of his company’s rigor, Amodei urged other frontier AI companies to “follow suit.”
Bass read the same story very differently and described it as a payroll scandal. In his telling, tracing the capital backward leads to Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, who has publicly identified himself as an effective altruist, and whose money ultimately supports METR.
Forbes reporting on the Anthropic stake became part of the argument
Protos cited Forbes as reporting that Moskovitz and his wife, Cari Tuna, moved an Anthropic stake into an unnamed nonprofit vehicle in early 2025. By November 2025, Forbes estimated that holding was worth $500 million.
Forbes later placed the donated position at as much as 0.8% of Anthropic. The company raised money in May at a $965 billion valuation. At that level, 0.8% could be worth more than $7 billion.
Moskovitz said, “Our Anthropic shares are entirely in our foundation no personal benefit.”
Coefficient Giving CEO Alexander Berger wrote that the shares did not literally go to Coefficient Giving. One commenter challenged the broader implication of that claim, noting that Amodei’s sister, Daniela, is married to Coefficient Giving co-founder Holden Karnofsky. The commenter wrote, “If any of Coefficient Giving’s board members are large METR donors, that is a direct and obvious conflict of interest.”
Good Ventures, Coefficient Giving, Tarbell, and METR funding
The latest available tax filing for Good Ventures Foundation, another nonprofit tied to METR, reported $10.1 billion in assets. The filing listed hundreds of public stocks, but grouped private equity and venture capital into generic categories. Anthropic did not appear by name.
METR said it received $71 million in new commitments over the past six months.
Despite that budget, METR safety evaluators said they refuse funding from Anthropic or any AI lab, although frontier labs do provide substantial free tokens for testing.
Protos also noted that Coefficient Giving is legally separate from Good Ventures, even though Good Ventures acts as its founding partner.
Coefficient Giving’s live archive shows $3.7 million across two direct cash awards to Tarbell. Tarbell said that, as of 2025, Coefficient provided most of its funding, while maintaining that donors do not control its reporting or media work.
Anthropic signed an eight-week arrangement with METR this month
Anthropic announced an eight-week agreement with METR this month. Under the arrangement, the evaluator will have access to employees and internal transcripts.
METR’s conflict policy says it has never received payment for company-identifying assessments and that it “strives to be supported by broad and independent funders.”
Protos ended the piece by noting that Bass’ allegations remain unverified. The discussion for now is centered on whether the financial ties among Anthropic, METR, and several nonprofit entities are close enough to undermine claims of independence.