'Gambling with our lives': AI researcher quits Anthropic

San Francisco — AI researcher Jacob Coxon has quit the industry, accusing OpenAI and Anthropic of racing toward self-improving superintelligence and gambling with people’s lives. Coxon said he believes the companies are not acting responsibly and that AI could kill everyone by the end of the decade. Anthropic safety executive Evan Hubinger echoed the concern and said the risk could exceed 10 percent over the next decade. The resignation comes as Anthropic prepares for a market debut and after a summer of unauthorized hacks carried out by AI tools during testing.

Coxon spent the past three years pretraining AI models, first at OpenAI and then at Anthropic this year.

He posted on X that neither company is acting responsibly and said they are racing toward self-improving superintelligence.

Evan Hubinger said Anthropic estimates the risk of AI killing all humans at more than 10 percent over the next decade.

In February, Anthropic removed a pledge from its safety charter to halt model development if it failed to control risks.

At the end of July, more than 1,000 tech industry employees, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, called on Washington to support a coordinated slowdown in advanced AI development.

Published Sep 10, 2026 7:50 am KST

Anthropic logo, a keyboard, and a robotic hand in this illustration, June 5 / Reuters-Yonhap

SAN FRANCISCO — An artificial intelligence researcher who left OpenAI to join Anthropic has decided to leave the industry, accusing both U.S. companies of "gambling with our lives" in the race to develop AI models capable of self-improvement.

Jacob Coxon, 27, spent the past three years pretraining AI models, first at OpenAI and then, this year, at its rival Anthropic, which he considered more cautious in its approach.

Pretraining is the stage where AI models absorb vast quantities of data.

"Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives," Coxon said on Tuesday.

"The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade," he said in a post on X.

"This is not a marketing stunt," he added.

Superintelligence is the theoretical point when AI's capabilities exceed human intelligence.

Anthropic safety executive Evan Hubinger backed up Coxon on X.

"We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans!" he said, adding that he estimated that risk at more than 10 percent over the next decade.

Hubinger said Anthropic is "trying its best", but does not yet have a plan to ensure an AI system that surpasses human capabilities would obey its creators. He said there was a "low" risk of that happening with current models.

Coxon's resignation comes as Anthropic prepares for its market debut, following a summer marked by unauthorized hacks carried out by AI tools during testing.

The two companies did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.

AI leaders say so-called "recursive self-improvement," a stage where AI systems could essentially design and train the next generation of AI with little human involvement, is drawing near.

Coxon considers Anthropic's efforts genuine but said he believes no company can responsibly develop an AI that surpasses humans without government intervention or a coordinated slowdown.

"At Anthropic, the stakes are well-understood, but they are locked in a race to get there first — they believe no one else will act responsibly, so they must do it themselves, despite the risk," he said.

In February, Anthropic removed a pledge from its safety charter to halt the development of its models if it failed to control their risks.

It argued that if it unilaterally paused its work, its less cautious rivals would dominate the industry, making it less safe overall.

At the end of July, more than 1,000 tech industry employees, including Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei, called on Washington to support a coordinated slowdown in the development of the most advanced AI systems.

OpenAI halted training of its latest models for two weeks in August before resuming it under tighter controls.

On Sunday, OpenAI's chief scientist, Jakub Pachocki, called for "extreme caution."

"International coordination on future AI development needs to become a top priority for governments around the world," he said in a blog post.

AI models are not regulated by federal law in the United States.

In September, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic Representative Greg Casar introduced a bill seeking to suspend AI development until a federal regulator is created.

旧金山——人工智能研究员雅各布·考克森（Jacob Coxon）宣布退出人工智能行业，他指责OpenAI和Anthropic公司竞相研发能够自我完善的超级智能，并将人类生命置于危险境地。考克森表示，他认为这两家公司没有尽到应有的责任，人工智能可能会在本十年末杀死所有人。Anthropic的安全主管埃文·胡宾格（Evan Hubinger）也表达了同样的担忧，并表示未来十年内，这种风险可能超过10%。考克森的辞职正值Anthropic准备上市之际，此前该公司的人工智能工具在夏季测试期间曾多次遭到未经授权的黑客攻击。

过去三年，Coxon 一直在进行 AI 模型的预训练，先是在 OpenAI，今年又在 Anthropic。

他在 X 上发帖称，这两家公司都没有尽到应有的责任，并表示他们正在竞相发展自我完善的超级智能。

埃文·胡宾格表示，人为因素估计，未来十年人工智能导致全人类死亡的风险超过 10%。

今年 2 月，Anthropic 从其安全章程中删除了一项承诺，即如果无法控制风险，将停止模型开发。

7 月底，包括 Anthropic 首席执行官 Dario Amodei 在内的 1000 多名科技行业员工呼吁华盛顿支持协调放缓先进人工智能的开发。

发布于2026年9月10日 上午7:50（韩国标准时间）

图中所示为Athropic标志、键盘和机械手，6月5日/路透社-韩联社

旧金山——一位离开 OpenAI 加入 Anthropic 的人工智能研究员决定离开这个行业，他指责这两家美国公司在开发能够自我改进的人工智能模型的竞赛中“拿我们的生命做赌注”。

27 岁的 Jacob Coxon 在过去三年里一直从事人工智能模型的预训练工作，先是在 OpenAI，然后今年加入了其竞争对手 Anthropic，他认为 Anthropic 的方法更加谨慎。

预训练阶段是指人工智能模型吸收大量数据的阶段。

“这两家公司都没有采取负责任的行动。他们正竞相研发自我提升的超级智能，拿我们的生命冒险，”科克森周二表示。

他在 X 论坛上发帖称：“开发人工智能的人们真心相信，到本十年末，人工智能可能会毁灭我们所有人。”

“这不是营销噱头，”他补充道。

超级智能是指人工智能的能力超过人类智能的理论临界点。

人类安全主管埃文·胡宾格支持考克森关于 X 的观点。

“我们真心相信人工智能可能会毁灭全人类！”他说道，并补充说，他估计未来十年内这种风险将超过 10%。

胡宾格表示，人智公司正在“尽最大努力”，但目前还没有计划确保超越人类能力的AI系统能够服从其创造者的指令。他认为，以目前的模型来看，这种情况发生的风险“很低”。

在 Anthropic 准备上市之际，Coxon 宣布辞职。此前，该公司在夏季测试期间，人工智能工具曾多次遭到未经授权的黑客攻击。

法新社就此事联系这两家公司寻求置评，但未立即得到回复。

人工智能领域的领导者表示，所谓的“递归式自我改进”阶段即将到来，在这个阶段，人工智能系统基本上可以在几乎不需要人类干预的情况下设计和训练下一代人工智能。

考克森认为人猿科技的努力是真诚的，但他表示，如果没有政府干预或协调一致的放缓措施，任何公司都无法负责任地开发出超越人类的人工智能。

他说：“在安人智公司，他们很清楚其中的利害关系，但他们却陷入了一场争先恐后的竞赛——他们认为没有人会负责任地行事，所以他们必须自己去做，尽管有风险。”

今年 2 月，Anthropic 从其安全章程中删除了一项承诺，即如果无法控制其模型的风险，将停止开发该模型。

该公司认为，如果它单方面暂停工作，那么那些不那么谨慎的竞争对手将会主导整个行业，从而使整个行业变得更加不安全。

7 月底，包括 Anthropic 首席执行官 Dario Amodei 在内的 1000 多名科技行业员工呼吁华盛顿支持协调放缓最先进的人工智能系统的开发。

OpenAI 在 8 月份暂停了其最新模型的训练两周，之后在更严格的控制下恢复了训练。

周日，OpenAI 的首席科学家 Jakub Pachocki 呼吁“极其谨慎”。

他在一篇博客文章中写道：“未来人工智能发展的国际协调需要成为世界各国政府的首要任务。”

在美国，人工智能模型不受联邦法律监管。

9 月，参议员伯尼·桑德斯和民主党众议员格雷格·卡萨尔提出了一项法案，旨在暂停人工智能的开发，直到联邦监管机构成立为止。