Dario Amodei, CEO of San Francisco-based AI company Anthropic, announced on Tuesday that the company will contribute $2 million to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to help advance AI-powered energy solutions and build the cybersecurity workforce needed to protect America’s energy infrastructure.
He shared the funding announcement and other key priorities for strengthening the U.S. AI industry at the inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon, alongside President Donald Trump, Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), and leaders from across the technology and energy sectors.
“The importance of building this infrastructure goes beyond just powering data centers—the country that controls the energy to train and deploy frontier AI models will shape the future of global innovation, economic competitiveness, and democratic values,” Amodei stated.
Anthropic’s contribution will be split between two programs within the university.
The Scott Institute for Energy Innovation will receive $1 million to include AI energy research in the institute’s Grand Challenge Partnership Program, which accelerates research on energy transition. The funding would specifically focus on leveraging AI to automate and optimize grid management, driving energy efficiency and resilience.
Additionally, the picoCTF program will receive $1 million to support its efforts to provide middle and high school students with a free cybersecurity education to learn skills through capture-the-flag competitions. It provides hands-on challenges covering topics like cryptography, web exploitation, forensics, and reverse engineering.
“By partnering across government, industry, and communities, we can build the foundation for decades of American leadership in AI—creating jobs, strengthening our energy independence, and ensuring the transformative benefits of AI are realized in the United States,” Amodei stated.