Each September, the tech elite gather at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel for a Goldman Sachs investment conference, hoping to secure funding and build momentum. This year, the industry’s optimism was punctuated by internal discord, specifically regarding the abrupt departure of Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon.
The 27-year-old, who previously worked at OpenAI, sparked industry-wide debate this week by claiming that those building artificial intelligence believe the technology possesses the potential to destroy humanity. Coxon warned that the world is currently “gambling with our lives” as developers create “superhuman systems that can hack anything.”
Coxon is part of a growing trend of high-profile resignations from major AI firms like OpenAI and Anthropic motivated by safety concerns. His sentiments have found support among some current staff, including Anthropic team lead Evan Hubinger, who posted on X that he believes there is a “>10%” chance AI could kill all humans within the next decade.
While Coxon maintained that his public warnings were “not marketing,” many investors and executives view such claims with deep suspicion. As both Anthropic and OpenAI position themselves for potentially record-setting initial public offerings, critics argue that these catastrophic narratives are being used to generate hype and project the immense power of their products.
Grindr CEO George Arison, who spoke at the conference, described the rhetoric from Anthropic as “dangerous” and indicative of an “anti-civilisational worldview.” Following these statements, Arison directed some engineers at his firm to stop utilizing Anthropic’s technology. He argued that it is fiscally irresponsible to rely on a business that promotes such alarming public messaging.
Arison suggested that the discourse might be a calculated effort to inflate valuations. “Maybe they actually believe it,” he noted. “Or you could argue they’re saying it because it’s a great way to gin up more investor support, because the only way to justify these valuations is to actually claim: ‘I’m going to take over every industry and I’m going to take over every job.'”
Anthropic, which secured a valuation of $965bn (£713bn) during a fundraising round earlier this year, has faced additional scrutiny over comments from its CEO, Dario Amodei. Amodei has previously suggested that AI could displace half of all entry-level white-collar roles and will “test who we are as a species.”
In response to the growing discourse, Amodei published an essay early Saturday advocating for global regulation and a measured slowing of AI model development. He maintained that the risks associated with current advancements remain “serious.” Anthropic has been contacted for further comment regarding the accusations leveled against their corporate strategy. The report also notes that he called them “dangerous” and said they had prompted him to instruct some engineers at the LGBTQ+ dating app to stop using Anthropic’s technology. The report also notes that in terms of its public statements,” he said, it is irresponsible for us as stewards of our shareholders’ money to be relying on a business that does what this company does.
