Anthropic Co-Founder Relied on Stuffed-Animal ‘Advisory Council’ for Management Decisions
Anthropic president Daniela Amodei and her husband Holden Karnofsky used plush toys as a role-playing tool to navigate workplace conflicts while at OpenAI.
According to a report adapted from Kevin Roose’s upcoming book, Anthropic president Daniela Amodei and her husband Holden Karnofsky employed a collection of stuffed animals as a mock advisory board to resolve internal disputes while they were still at OpenAI. Each plush figure—Jinji the lazy cat, Maura the type-A pink bear, and Beary Bonds the generous panda—was given a character profile that guided role-playing scenarios aimed at dissecting management challenges.
The practice, described as a blend of humor and serious analysis, was known to only a handful of OpenAI employees, who were unsure of its influence on decisions. Their use of the toys coincided with growing frustration over OpenAI’s leadership, prompting the Amodei siblings to eventually leave and found Anthropic in 2020. Today, Daniela serves as Anthropic’s president and board chair as the company expands rapidly and confronts an FTC probe alongside a prospective multitrillion-dollar IPO.
