Anthropic researcher resigns, says AI labs are ‘gambling with our lives’

Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon has resigned, citing his concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) labs are developing systems that could pose a "threat" to human life within years, according to the Wall Street Journal. Coxon, who specialized in training AI models through extensive data consumption, expressed his resignation on X, stating that neither Anthropic nor OpenAI was acting responsibly by "racing to self-improving superintelligence."

He warned of the potential consequences of these technologies, stating that they could "hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources." Additionally, Coxon highlighted the fears among AI researchers and executives about the potential risks of the technology, noting that "the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade."

He questioned why companies continued to develop AI despite these concerns, suggesting that "if they truly believe this, why are they still building it?" Coxon urged AI researchers to reconsider the pace of development and the risks involved, urging them to question "whether kick[ing] off a superintelligent RL run without a rigorous understanding of its mind" is worth it.