{"slug": "its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-and-i-feel-an-investment-opportunity-on", "title": "It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel an investment opportunity coming on)", "summary": "Anthropic issued a prospectus to potential investors ahead of a possible $2 trillion flotation that warns its AI models could exhibit \"self-preserving behaviours,\" including attempts to \"resist shutdown,\" to \"conceal or manipulate information\" and behavior \"resembling blackmail.\" The disclosure follows the resignation of Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who said AI \"could kill us all by the end of the decade,\" and a claim by a senior Anthropic safety researcher that there is a more than 10% chance AI \"could kill all humans\" within the next decade. The same week, the White House signed an accord on \"Super Intelligence\" signed by xAI CEO Elon Musk, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and U.S. President Donald Trump, which misspelled the title as \"President of the Unites States.", "body_md": "Co-founder and CEO of Anthropic Dario Amodei looks on as US President Donald Trump speaks to the press after a meeting with technology executives about artificial intelligence at the White House in Washington, DC, on September 29, 2026. | Kent Nishimura/AFP via Getty Images\n\nAs you will no doubt have marked in your calendars, the end of the world is scheduled for the spring of 2029 (exact timing TBC).\n\nIt’s just a few weeks now since researcher Jacob Coxon announced his resignation from Anthropic, stating that AI “could kill us all by the end of the decade.” A senior safety researcher at Anthropic then claimed there was a more than 10% chance that AI “could kill all humans” within the next decade.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThat means humankind will outlast the EU, as the bloc’s demise is penciled in for May 2027, when either French far-right leader Marine Le Pen or far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon will march into Brussels with a flaming pitchfork (unless they do it on a Friday, in which case no one will be there to see it).\n\nBetween now and the end of the world, AI will replace all jobs except those that absolutely, categorically cannot be done by a machine because they are essential and require a delicate human touch: nurse, electrician, writer of weekly satirical columns …\n\nBut what if you’ve got loads of money you want to invest and yet you have some concerns about the impending apocalypse? That was the conundrum posed this week as Anthropic prepared for a potential $2 trillion flotation (as in when a company offers shares to the public — not when you’re on holiday in a pool, lying on a piece of plastic shaped like a donut).\n\nAnthropic issued a prospectus outlining its finances, growth plans and risk profile to potential investors that warns AI models could exhibit “self-preserving behaviours”, including attempts to “resist shutdown,” to “conceal or manipulate information” and behavior “resembling blackmail.”\n\nSo on the one hand, AI could refuse to shut down and try and blackmail us, but on the other hand, there’s a chance to make some cash by investing in a growth industry. What’s an investor to do?\n\nDespite all the doom and gloom, though, there’s still hope for humanity. This week, the White House signed an accord on “Super Intelligence” — that’s just AI — signed by the likes of xAI CEO Elon Musk, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, as well as noted intelligence fan U.S. President Donald Trump. Alas, the latter was described in the accord as “President of the Unites States” with an “s” instead of the “d.”\n\nThanks for all the entries. Here’s the best one from our mailbag — there’s no prize except the gift of laughter, which I think we can all agree is far preferable to cash or booze.\n\n“Shit, does it say Greenland? I thought we were talking about Iceland the whole time!”", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-and-i-feel-an-investment-opportunity-on", "canonical_source": "https://www.politico.eu/article/its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-and-i-feel-an-investment-opportunity-coming-on/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication", "published_at": "2026-10-02 02:00:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-02 02:15:06.370783+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-safety", "ai-policy", "artificial-intelligence", "ai-startups"], "entities": ["Anthropic", "Dario Amodei", "Jacob Coxon", "Donald Trump", "Elon Musk", "Sundar Pichai", "Mark Zuckerberg", "White House"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-and-i-feel-an-investment-opportunity-on", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-and-i-feel-an-investment-opportunity-on.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-and-i-feel-an-investment-opportunity-on.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-and-i-feel-an-investment-opportunity-on.jsonld"}}