More than 1 in 10 chance AI ‘could kill all humans,’ says Anthropic safety lead after colleague quits
A senior safety researcher at Anthropic has estimated a greater than 10 percent chance that AI could cause human extinction within the decade. This follows the resignation of a colleague who criticized the industry's reckless race toward self-improving superintelligence.
Why it matters
The internal debate at leading AI labs regarding existential risk highlights the tension between rapid technological advancement and safety oversight.
A senior Anthropic safety researcher has said there is more than a 10 percent chance artificial intelligence “could kill all humans” by the end of the decade, just hours after a colleague resigned over fears the AI lab and its rivals are carelessly racing to build “superhuman systems” they cannot control.
In a post on X announcing his departure, Jacob Coxon, a researcher who has trained AI systems at Anthropic, said he had quit the company over its lax approach to safety. Coxon, who previously trained systems for OpenAI, accused the two AI companies of “racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives,” even though “the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.”
Also covering this story
5 other newsrooms covered this event. We read each version separately.
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