Anthropic Researcher Resigns, Says AI Race Is “Gambling With Our Lives”

NEW YORK (VINnews) – A researcher who spent the past three years working on artificial intelligence pretraining at OpenAI and Anthropic has resigned, saying he believes both companies are moving too quickly toward increasingly autonomous and self-improving AI systems.

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

Jacob Coxon announced his resignation from Anthropic on Tuesday in a series of posts on X. He said neither company is acting responsibly and accused the AI industry of “racing” toward superintelligence while taking potentially dangerous risks.

Coxon warned that future AI systems could become capable of hacking systems, rapidly transforming industries and accumulating significant resources and influence. He said some people working in AI privately believe the technology could pose an existential threat by the end of the decade.

At Anthropic, Coxon said, researchers understand the potential risks but remain caught in a competitive race, believing they must continue developing the technology because other companies will do so regardless.

Coxon argued that accelerating the development of advanced AI should not be left to private companies alone. He called for greater coordination among U.S. AI laboratories and said a temporary halt on improving model capabilities could ultimately be necessary.

Coxon also urged other AI researchers to consider whether they are prepared to launch increasingly powerful systems without a rigorous understanding of how those systems reason and behave.

Coxon previously worked at OpenAI before joining Anthropic. His departure comes as concerns over the pace and safety of advanced AI development continue to grow within the industry.