Anthropic's Jacob Coxon Quits Accusing Company Of Developing AI That Can Kill Humanity In A Decade

Jacob Coxon, a 27-year-old researcher who spent three years doing pretraining research at OpenAI and Anthropic, resigned from Anthropic on September 9, 2026, accusing both companies of racing to build self-improving superintelligent AI without adequate safeguards, warning that such systems could kill humanity by the end of the decade. Coxon's resignation comes amid reports of Anthropic's potential IPO valued near $2 trillion. Evan Hubinger, Anthropic's Alignment Science Lead, responded on X that he personally believes there is a greater than 10% chance AI could kill all humans within the next decade and that Anthropic does not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence.

Anthropic’s researcher Jacob Coxon quit the ClaudeA /se/?q=claude&model=article I maker with quite an explosive post on X/Twitter exposing the company’s race to achieve AGI that will potentially end humanity as we know it /se/?q=ai+humanity . In a lengthy thread, the SF-based AI researcher accused both Anthropic and OpenAI of developing self-improving superintelligent systems without adequate safeguards. Coxon, 27, spent three years working on pretraining research across the two firms before stepping away from the industry entirely. His resignation comes in the wake of Anthropic's potential IPO, reportedly valued near $2 trillion in market chatter around the listing. "The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade," Coxon wrote, adding that executives and senior researchers often soften their language for the press while privately expressing the same fears. He warned that upcoming systems would soon be capable of hacking almost anything and revolutionizing entire fields overnight and said the pace of progress showed no sign of slowing. Why OpenAI & Anthropic Won’t Stop? Asked why he stayed as long as he did given his stated beliefs, Coxon stated that OpenAI /se/?q=openai+&model=article staff have not fully grasped the stakes involved while Anthropic understands the risks internally but feels locked into a competitive race it cannot exit. Warning Shots Here are a handful of Coxon’s warning tweets. 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. Do not underestimate the power of this technology. These will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources. We have all witnessed the progress in each of these domains, and progress is not slowing. 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? Should you put your head down because “it’s happening anyway” - or take this moment to call for different conditions? — Jacob Coxon @hilbertspaess https://x.com/hilbertspaess/status/2097476196791709843 September 9, 2026 https://x.com/hilbertspaess/status/2097476196791709843?ref src=twsrc%5Etfw — Jacob Coxon @hilbertspaess https://x.com/hilbertspaess/status/2097476203863224394 September 9, 2026 https://x.com/hilbertspaess/status/2097476203863224394?ref src=twsrc%5Etfw Meanwhile, Coxon told the Wall Street Journal that Anthropic's safety work is sincere but that competitive pressure makes trade-offs difficult to avoid, adding that current trends point toward scenarios where things could spiral out of control by the end of next year. An Anthropic researcher is quitting the artificial-intelligence industry over fears that the lab and its competitors are racing to build systems that could spiral out of control and destroy humanity. https://x.com/WSJ/status/2097474365163999402 https://t.co/oB7tWEwWkH https://t.co/oB7tWEwWkH September 8, 2026 https://x.com/WSJ/status/2097474365163999402?ref src=twsrc%5Etfw Company's Response? Coxon’s departure prompted a response from inside the company. Evan Hubinger, Anthropic's Alignment Science Lead, wrote on X that he and his colleagues do believe AI could kill all humans. He wrote Jacob is correct here—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. Jacob is correct here—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. https://x.com/EvanHub/status/2097497037956891126 https://t.co/QAIHiFP3QZ https://t.co/QAIHiFP3QZ September 9, 2026 https://x.com/EvanHub/status/2097497037956891126?ref src=twsrc%5Etfw See Also: OpenAI's Rogue Agents Hijack German Website Bypassing Sandbox Restrictions: Report /tech/113617/openais-rogue-agents-hijack-german-website-bypassing-sandbox-restrictions-report Cover: illustrative / Pexels https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-and-blue-illuminated-toy-robot-8566521/