‘We need more time’: Another researcher quits over AI risks, this time from Google DeepMind

Google DeepMind researcher Josh Engels has resigned from the company's AGI safety team, citing concerns over the potential dangers of increasingly capable AI systems. Engels, who once worked at Anthropic and OpenAI, told his followers on X that he now believes there is a high probability that AI could cause immense harm within the next five years.

He argued that the current pace of AI development is moving too quickly, and that safety efforts are not keeping up. Engels also pointed out that he had turned down offers from Anthropic and OpenAI for the same reasons. Following Engels' resignation, there has been a growing call for a coordinated slowdown in the development of frontier AI.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently proposed a global slowdown and a three-step plan, including providing independent auditors access to frontier AI models.