Anthropic researcher quits, warns AI labs are 'gambling with humanity'
What's the story
Jacob Coxon, a researcher at Anthropic, has resigned over concerns about the risks posed by artificial intelligence (AI). He has accused leading AI firms like Anthropic and OpenAI of being reckless in their pursuit of self-improving AI. In a lengthy statement on X, Coxon said, "I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic. Neither company is acting responsibly." "They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives."
Potential risks
Coxon warns of rapid advancements in AI capabilities
Coxon further warned that the capabilities being developed by AI labs shouldn't be underestimated.
He said future systems could hack nearly any system, revolutionize entire fields of human activity in no time, and gain significant real-world power and resources.
"These will soon be superhuman systems," he warned while adding that progress across AI capabilities has continued rapidly with no clear signs of slowing down.
Industry concerns
Executives believe powerful AI could be an existential threat
Coxon also revealed that researchers and executives at leading AI companies genuinely believe that increasingly powerful AI "could kill us all by the end of the decade."
He explained that while executives and senior researchers may use more measured language publicly, he has heard some of them express significantly greater fears in private.
"No other human activity poses this level of danger," Coxon wrote in his post.
Ethical dilemmas
Is it right for private companies to make these decisions?
Coxon also questioned whether private companies should be making decisions about the development of potentially superintelligent systems internally.
He argued that accepting this race and entering the "endgame" is a hubristic gamble that shouldn't be launched from a private company's Slack.
His resignation adds to the ongoing debate within the AI industry over whether this race is outpacing its understanding and control capabilities.
Plea
Coxon urges other AI researchers to speak up
"If you are a lab researcher, I urge you to consider what the next few years will actually feel like. Do you want to kick off a superintelligent RL run without a rigorous understanding of its mind?," Coxon said.
"Should you put your head down because "it's happening anyway" - or take this moment to call for different conditions?"
Twitter Post
Take a look at the post
I resigned from Anthropic today. I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives. More thoughts below.
— Jacob Coxon (@hilbertspaess) September 9, 2026