Anthropic Co-Founder Amodei Used Stuffed Animals as Workplace Advisory Council, Book Reveals

Anthropic co-founder Daniela Amodei employed an unconventional management technique while navigating workplace conflicts at OpenAI, consulting stuffed animals with distinct personalities as a "personal advisory council," according to journalist Kevin Roose's forthcoming book on the AI race. The practice, which predated Anthropic's 2021 founding, involved three plush toys serving as decision-making surrogates: Jinji, a lazy cat who encouraged work-life balance and canceling meetings; Maura, a detail-oriented pink bear embodying a type-A management style; and Beary Bonds, a panda positioned as a patron of generosity and empathy. Amodei told Roose in 2023 that the stuffed animals proved "very useful in analyzing different personality types" during her tenure at OpenAI.