'Attempted Coup': Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar Slams Dangerous Ideology Behind AI 'Killing Us All' Warnings
A growing public rift over artificial intelligence (AI) safety has widened this week, with Palantir chief technology officer Shyam Sankar accusing the effective altruism movement of driving what he calls unfounded panic over AI risk, even as US President Donald Trump separately dismissed the same warnings as a 'hoax .' This comes after several AI company employees are quitting due to AI safety…
A widening discord over artificial intelligence (AI) safety has intensified this week, as Palantir's chief technology officer, Shyam Sankar, criticized the effective altruism movement for instigating unfounded panic over AI risk. This comes amidst a stream of AI company employees resigning due to safety concerns, with some expressing fears that "AI could kill us all."
In a piece published by The Free Press, Sankar argued that effective altruism, once associated with crypto founder Sam Bankman-Fried, is the ideological driving force behind today's AI safety movement. He contends that adherents are not merely expressing genuine concerns but attempting to seize control of AI from ordinary Americans.
Sankar cites Bankman-Fried's own EA-inflected pitch, where he pledged to donate his crypto fortune to protect humanity from existential risk, as a warning about how EA rhetoric can mask self-interest.
The article was framed by The Free Press editors as a counterpoint to recent warnings from Niall Ferguson, Daniel Kokotajlo, and Tyler Cowen on the potential catastrophe of AI. Sankar's essay highlights the case of Jacob Coxon, a former Anthropic software engineer who resigned and warned about AI's potential to cause catastrophic harm by the end of the decade.
Coxon's resignation was followed by several others, including Bilal Chughtai from Google DeepMind and Josh Engels from DeepMind's AGI safety team, who cited serious concerns about the trajectory of AI development and the potential for catastrophic harm.
Major AI companies, including Anthropic, OpenAI, and DeepMind, have called for a slowdown in frontier development, urging caution and emphasizing the need for alignment and monitoring. President Trump, however, dismisses these warnings as a hoax, stating that robots will not take over and that the only necessary guardrail is a strong presidency.
Written by urgent.news from Free Press Journal's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
