Andrej Karpathy, OpenAI co-founder and former Tesla AI chief, joins Anthropic

May 19, 2026

Andrej Karpathy, a founding member of OpenAI and former Tesla AI director, has joined Anthropic's pretraining team in May 2026, marking his latest career move in the competitive AI industry. Karpathy rejoined OpenAI in 2023 but left in February 2024 to start Eureka Labs, an AI-centered education company, before now joining Anthropic where he will work on large-scale testing of Claude under team lead Nick Joseph. The move comes as Anthropic's profile has skyrocketed in 2026 due to major advancements in Claude Code and Cowork tools, plus increased public attention from a clash with the Trump administration. The hire intensifies the rivalry between Anthropic and OpenAI, with Sam Altman having accused Anthropic of fueling hostility that led to an attack on his house.

Karpathy joins Anthropic

▪Andrej Karpathy announced on May 19, 2026 that Andrej Karpathy had joined Anthropic.
▪Interest in Anthropic has skyrocketed in 2026, thanks to a boost in broader public interest following a tussle with the Trump administration.
▪Interest in Anthropic has skyrocketed in 2026, thanks to major advancements in Claude Code and Cowork tools.
▪Andrej Karpathy started working at Anthropic during the week of May 19, 2026.

Karpathy's career background

▪Andrej Karpathy publicly supported OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during Sam Altman's brief ouster.
▪Andrej Karpathy was a founding member of OpenAI.
▪Andrej Karpathy remains deeply passionate about education and plans to resume Andrej Karpathy's work on education in time.
▪Andrej Karpathy was formerly Tesla's director of AI.
▪Andrej Karpathy left OpenAI in February 2024.
▪Andrej Karpathy coined the term 'vibe coding'.
▪Andrej Karpathy rejoined OpenAI in 2023.
▪Andrej Karpathy started Eureka Labs, an AI-centered education company, after leaving OpenAI in February 2024.

Anthropic pretraining team role

▪Nick Joseph leads Anthropic's pretraining team.
▪Andrej Karpathy will work on Anthropic's pretraining team.
▪Anthropic's pretraining team is responsible for large-scale testing of Claude.
▪Nick Joseph is a former OpenAI employee who was an early employee at Anthropic.

Anthropic-OpenAI rivalry

▪Anthropic's rivalry with OpenAI has reached a fever pitch.
▪Sam Altman accused Anthropic of helping to fuel hate toward Sam Altman that led to an attack on Sam Altman's house.