A former OpenAI and Anthropic researcher has quit his job with a stark warning: the companies building some of the world’s most powerful artificial intelligence (AI) systems are racing towards technology they themselves fear could threaten humanity.
Jacob Coxon announced his resignation from Anthropic in a post on X that has been viewed more than 140 million times.
“I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic,” Coxon wrote. “Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.”
Coxon warned that future systems could become capable of outperforming humans across fields, conducting sophisticated cyberattacks and eventually improving their own capabilities.
“The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade,” he wrote.
Coxon’s claims quickly received support from people currently or previously working inside leading AI laboratories.
Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger said Coxon was “correct”, adding that he personally estimates the probability of AI killing all humans at more than 10 per cent within the next decade.
“I believe Anthropic is trying its best, but we do not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence,” Hubinger wrote.
Anna Wang, who previously worked at Google DeepMind and now works at Anthropic, described the concern as common among her peers and said there was not yet a viable scientific plan for managing risks from recursively self-improving AI.
Former Google DeepMind researcher Alex Turner also backed Coxon, saying many researchers believe they are building technology that could eventually kill everyone on the planet.
The extraordinary public exchange has also drawn attention from U.S. lawmakers. Senator Bernie Sanders backed Coxon’s warning and said he would introduce legislation seeking to ban artificial superintelligence and pause AI development.
Other lawmakers have called for stronger safeguards, including Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who described the potential consequences of AI as a “catastrophic risk”.
Anthropic said it has “always been transparent” that AI could bring both enormous benefits and unprecedented risks, adding that it continues to develop safeguards and supports greater coordination over the release of increasingly powerful models.
Coxon, however, argues that voluntary restraint is unlikely to be enough while companies remain locked in competition.
“Should you put your head down because ‘it’s happening anyway’,” he asked fellow researchers, “or take this moment to call for different conditions?”
Afghanistan says its forces have killed 41 fighters and captured 62 others after several days of fighting in eastern Nuristan, accusing Pakistan&rs...
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has accused the U.S. and Israel of seeking to foment internal divisions in Iran after failing to defeat the cou...
The U.S. Senate has blocked a resolution that would have required President Donald Trump’s administration to report to Congress on alleged hu...
The European Union's decision to simultaneously advance accession talks with Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro and Albania marks its most ambitious enlargement effort in more than two decades.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has accused the U.S. and Israel of seeking to foment internal divisions in Iran after failing to defeat the country militarily, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported.
U.S. President Donald Trump has denied reports that he offered Iran sanctions relief and access to frozen funds in exchange for nuclear concessions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that more than 8,000 North Korean troops are currently in Russia, with preparations under way to send another 10,000.
Russian strikes hit Kyiv and Ukraine’s Black Sea region of Odesa overnight into Tuesday, damaging infrastructure and civilian sites, while Moscow said it had also targeted vessels carrying military cargo.
OpenAI has cancelled plans to release GPT-6.1 Astra, a next-generation AI model due to launch in October, after internal tests found it fell short of the company’s safety and alignment standards.
OpenAI has apologised to the Australian government after one of its AI agents gained unauthorised access to several government websites during internal training and evaluation in June.
Robots capable of interacting with people, navigating their surroundings autonomously, supporting manufacturing and logistics operations, and providing services at large-scale facilities will be showcased at AI & Digital Bridge 2026 in Astana from 1 to 3 October.
Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 28 September 2026. These are the top stories making headlines in technology.
Meta has unveiled a new generation of wearables, including lightweight virtual reality glasses and camera-free smart spectacles, as it pushes AI-powered devices further into the mainstream while seeking to address privacy concerns.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment