A former artificial intelligence researcher who claims to have worked at OpenAI and Anthropic has issued a stark warning about the industry’s race toward superintelligence, accusing both companies of gambling with humanity’s future.
Jacob Coxon posted his warning Tuesday, Sept. 8, after resigning from Anthropic. The X thread has since received more than 103.5 million impressions at the time of this article’s writing.
“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,” Coxon wrote.
He warned that the public should not dismiss the extraordinary capabilities these systems may soon possess.
“Do not underestimate the power of this technology. These will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources. We have all witnessed the progress in each of these domains, and progress is not slowing.”
Coxon claimed the people developing these systems privately acknowledge that AI may pose an existential threat.
“The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt. If anything, many executives and senior researchers will couch their phrasing in the press to sound sensible – but I hear the same people express fear privately. No other human activity poses this level of danger.”
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He also addressed why developers continue advancing the technology if they understand its destructive potential.
“A common response is ‘if they truly believe this, why are they still building it?’ At OpenAI, many have not deeply internalized the civilizational stakes. 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.”
Coxon condemned the idea that private companies should determine humanity’s future behind closed doors.
“Accepting this race and entering the ‘endgame’ is a hubristic gamble that should not be launched from a private company’s Slack. Attempting to speedrun alignment should require extraordinary confidence that there are no better trajectories available.”
Despite his warning, Coxon said cooperation among AI companies remains possible.
“I am optimistic about the potential for coordination. Warning shots like the Hugging Face attack have made pacing agreements between U.S. labs more viable. I don’t feel like we’re on track to prevent a global race, which may require costly actions such as a temporary ban on improving model capabilities.”
He concluded by challenging fellow researchers to confront their responsibility.
“If you are a lab researcher, I urge you to consider what the next few years will actually feel like. Do you want to kick off a superintelligent RL run without a rigorous understanding of its mind? Should you put your head down because ‘it’s happening anyway’ – or take this moment to call for different conditions?”
The trajectory is becoming increasingly clear. AI provides the technological framework through which the Beast system described in the book of Revelation could exercise total control over society — from online commerce and bank accounts to industry, communications and militaries worldwide. Revelation 13 warns of a system in which no one can buy or sell without its authorization.
Yet do people even care? The relentless news cycle appears to make humanity more apathetic with each passing day. Revelation also warns us about the final church it addresses: Laodicea, the lukewarm church that believed it needed nothing while remaining blind to its true condition. The technology is accelerating, the warnings are growing louder, and lukewarm indifference remains one of the greatest dangers of all.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
