Exclusive | AI giant Anthropic hires ex-Chuck Schumer, Eric Adams staffer as it faces woke claims | Latest Tech News
Anthropic has tapped an ex-staffer for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and outgoing Mayor Eric Adams for a top communications position – even as the AI giant scrambles to fend off allegations that it is just too “woke,” The Post has discovered.
The fast-growing tech startup has these days sought to mend a rapport with the Trump administration broken by its ties to Democratic megadonors, clashes with White House AI czar David Sacks and a September dustup after it reportedly barred the feds from utilizing its AI instruments for some law enforcement functions.
Maxwell Young, a longtime Democratic operative, took over as Anthropic’s head of coverage communications in November.
Maxwell Young joined Anthropic after almost three years at Pfizer. Maxwell Young / LinkedIn
One tech coverage adviser who requested anonymity said the rent was a head-scratcher given Anthropic’s precarious place with Republicans.
“Given Anthropic’s deep, deep bench of left-leaning staff, and the company reportedly wanting to make nice with the current administration, it’s a curious move to bring on yet another Democrat right now,” the adviser said.
Anthropic’s head of exterior communications Christopher Nulty confirmed Young’s rent and said the company has “hired more than two dozen people from all political backgrounds since the beginning of 2025 to meet the needs of our global business” as it grows in measurement.
“Max, who led similar work at Pfizer, will help us make the case for commonsense, bipartisan AI policies like child safety protections, smart export controls, and defend America’s lead in AI,” Nulty said in a assertion to The Post.
Young’s stint as communications director for the mayor’s workplace included a dustup in February 2022 after Politico revealed that Adams, who had beforehand claimed to be a vegan, ordered fish at varied eating places around town.
Young adamantly told the outlet that Adams doesn’t eat fish – only for Hizzoner to admit a couple of days later that he does. The incident was mockingly dubbed “FishGate” on social media.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met with Trump administration officers on Thursday. Getty Images
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who was notably absent when tech CEOs swarmed the White House in first months of the Trump administration, has just lately taken a more hands-on method.
Amodei traveled to Washington on Thursday and met with key Trump administration officers and a bipartisan group of lawmakers to focus on AI coverage issues, including export restrictions and national security considerations, a source close to the scenario said.
As The Post beforehand reported, Amodei also attended a dinner in Japan with Trump in October and company officers have just lately briefed the White House on their plans for for a privately-funded AI compute and vitality strategy.
Anthropic declined to remark on the Washington journey.
Young spent years working in Schumer’s press workplace – as a press secretary from 2007 to 2012 and as his communications director from 2012 to 2014. He left Schumer’s group in 2014 but twice returned as a senior communications adviser in 2018 and 2020.
His advisory work with Schumer included serving to to craft the Senate Judiciary committee’s messaging around the contentious affirmation listening to for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, according to Politico.
From 2022 to 2023, Young labored as Mayor Adams’ director of communications, where he oversaw a group of about 40 staff, according to his LinkedIn profile.
David Sacks has repeatedly blasted Anthropic for being “woke.” Getty Images
Young spent the past three years outdoors of the political world at the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, where he was a vice president of coverage communications.
Meanwhile, Anthropic famous that it just lately fashioned an advisory council that contains former Trump administration officers and said it hires based on experience somewhat than political affiliation.
That hasn’t stopped criticism from Sacks, who has accused Anthropic’s management of being “AI doomers” and “committed leftists” who have engaged in fear-mongering about AI security so that they will form laws to its liking.
Major tech firms have often employed from the political ranks to bolster their coverage groups in current years. That contains OpenAI, which tapped former Clinton aide Chris Lehane to serve as its chief global affairs officer and former Biden official Liz Bourgeois as its head of coverage communications, among others.
Most the AI industry is pushing for a federal regulatory framework that would supersede state-level legal guidelines. President Trump is among those who have expressed assist for a so-called federal AI preemption.
While Anthropic has said it also prefers a federal regulatory framework for AI, it has notably damaged with rivals to endorse state-level measures, including California’s SB 53, which might require security frameworks for cutting-edge “frontier” AI fashions.
Anthropic has strongly denied any rift with the Trump administration and said it is aligned with the White House’s views on a quantity of AI insurance policies, including its AI Action Plan.
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