Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon warns AI race carries risks nobody fully understands

Jacob Coxon spent years helping build some of the most capable AI systems on the planet. Now he says the industry may not fully understand what it is building, or what happens if it succeeds. The 27-year-old researcher, who worked at both OpenAI and Anthropic, resigned publicly in early September 2026. He then laid out his concerns in a series of posts on X that drew tens of millions of views. What Coxon actually said Coxon announced his departure from Anthropic around September 8-9, 2026, via his X account, @hilbertspaess. His core argument: the top AI labs, Anthropic and OpenAI included, are locked in a competitive race toward self-improving superintelligence. He framed that competition as an arms race. In his telling, it could produce superhuman AI as soon as 2027. The more unsettling part of his message concerns the people doing the building. Coxon claimed that those working on these systems sincerely believe the technology could lead to humanity’s destruction before the decade is out. He argued the labs are pushing ahead anyway while giving short shrift to potentially catastrophic outcomes. Coxon’s background gives the warning some weight. He spent approximately three years in...