Update: Following the publication of this article, Clifford announced on 7 September that he will leave his role at ARIA on 6 November, citing the need to ensure his role at Anthropic "doesn't become a distraction" for ARIA.
The architect of the UK government’s AI action plan, Matt Clifford, is joining Anthropic, but his decision to remain chair of the R&D funding agency ARIA has attracted scrutiny.
Clifford, who stepped down as the PM’s AI Advisor last year, said he had taken the position of MD for International Affairs at the AI developer to lead its work with governments outside North America.
Posting online, he said: “It's clear that the decisions that will shape AI's impact shouldn't be made by any one actor… People everywhere want real agency over how this technology is built and used in their societies, and they should have it. Anthropic takes that seriously.”
Anthropic told The Stack Clifford will report to new Chief Global Affairs Officer Tino Cuéllar as part of a 70-strong policy and global affairs team, to “make sure Anthropic maintains productive relationships with governments in every region.”
