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Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigns, warns against self-improving AI

90 points · 22 comments#anthropic#ai-safety#resignation#recursive-self-improvement

Jacob Coxon, an AI researcher at Anthropic, resigned after four months, two months before his equity would have vested, citing safety concerns. In a public statement and interviews, he warned that the company is 'racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives,' and called for industry-wide and international coordination to limit recursive self-improvement. Anthropic's alignment lead co-signed his warning, and the resignation comes as Anthropic reportedly prepares for an IPO.

Coverage timeline

  1. Hacker Newsyurivish
  2. Hacker Newstaubek
  3. TechCrunch AIRebecca Bellan

    Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned over AI extinction fears, calling for pacing agreements between labs.

  4. Techmeme

    Madison Mills / Axios : AI researcher Jacob Coxon says he quit Anthropic after four months, two months before his equity would have vested; he still has equity in prior employer OpenAI — Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon quit his job due to concerns about the safety of AI two months before his equity would have vested, he told Axios.

  5. Techmeme

    Maxwell Zeff / Wired : Q&A with AI researcher Jacob Coxon, who quit Anthropic, on the need for industry-wide, international coordination to limit recursive self-improvement, and more — Jacob Coxon talks to WIRED about the “mini Manhattan project” inside Anthropic, the problem with alignment …

  6. TechCrunch AITheresa Loconsolo, Anthony Ha, Sean O'Kane, Kirsten Korosec

    An Anthropic researcher resigned this week, warning in a post on X that the company is “racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives”. The company’s own alignment lead even co-signed the message rather than walking it back. It’s the kind of doomer warning the AI industry has flirted with before, but the timing, with Anthropic reportedly preparing for an IPO, makes it land differently. On […]

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