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Anthropic official claims there is a 10% chance that AI could kill all humans within a decade

Anthropic alignment-science lead Evan Hubinger stated on X that he personally believes there is a greater than 10% chance AI could kill all humans within the next decade, adding that Anthropic lacks a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence. Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who resigned, echoed the fear, saying AI developers earnestly believe the technology could cause human extinction by the end of the decade, and Anthropic scalable-oversight lead Samuel Marks confirmed that more senior employees tend to be more concerned.

by read2 min views1 publishedSep 9, 2026
Anthropic official claims there is a 10% chance that AI could kill all humans within a decade
Image: Independent (auto-discovered)

Three current or former Anthropic employees have raised concerns about AI spiraling out of control

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Current and former employees of Anthropic, an American AI company founded by former OpenAI leaders, say they believe AI could potentially kill all humans within the next 10 years.

“We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade. I believe Anthropic is trying its best, but we do not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and are not clearly on track to,” Anthropic alignment-science lead Evan Hubinger wrote Tuesday night on X.

His comments came after Anthropic AI researcher Jacob Coxon resigned from the company and took to X to detail his departure.

“The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade,” Coxon stated. “This is not a marketing stunt. If anything, many executives and senior researchers will couch their phrasing in the press to sound sensible - but I hear the same people express fear privately. No other human activity poses this level of danger.”

His comments come as AI becomes an increasingly routine part of daily life for millions of Americans, while concerns over its potential risks grow. Industry leaders have warned that increasingly powerful AI systems could eventually become difficult or impossible to control.

Around 2 a.m. Wednesday, Anthropic scalable-oversight lead Samuel Marks also responded to Coxon’s post, claiming that he was “[Writing this in a personal capacity, not on behalf of my employer (Anthropic).”

"AI developers believe their technology could cause human extinction (or similarly bad outcomes). This could happen in the next few years. In general, the more senior the employee, the more concerned they are,” Marks wrote.

The Independent has contacted Anthropic for comment.

This story is being updated

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