Fearing rogue AI may kill humans in near future, researcher quits Anthropic

AI researcher Jacob Coxon resigned from Anthropic on September 9, 2026, saying he spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic and that "neither company is acting responsibly" as they race toward self-improving superintelligence. Senator Bernie Sanders responded the same day that he will soon introduce legislation to ban superintelligence and pause AI development, and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker called for immediate action from the industry and Washington.

In one line An AI researcher quit Anthropic over fears that unchecked AI development could lead to human extinction. 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. — Jacob Coxon @hilbertspaess September 9, 2026 https://x.com/hilbertspaess/status/2097476196791709843?ref src=twsrc%5Etfw Mr. Coxon is right. The very people building this technology admit that it could threaten the future of humanity. That is why I will soon be introducing legislation to ban superintelligence and pause AI development. https://t.co/oRmlNTqag6 https://t.co/oRmlNTqag6 September 9, 2026 https://x.com/BernieSanders/status/2097705093520863568?ref src=twsrc%5Etfw It's time to sound the alarm - louder - on reining in Artificial Intelligence. It's becoming more clear the threat AI poses to humanity, so I'm calling for immediate action from the industry and Washington. https://t.co/QMZ6IVlDOb https://t.co/QMZ6IVlDOb September 9, 2026 https://x.com/GovPritzker/status/2097715871309312220?ref src=twsrc%5Etfw