AI extinction fears surge after Anthropic researcher's warning

September 22, 2026 at 06:24 PM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned on 8 September, warning that AI systems could destroy humanity by the end of the decade. His post on X received over 100 million views in 24 hours, and Anthropic's alignment lead Evan Hubinger estimated extinction risk at over 10% within a decade. CEO Dario Amodei called for a slowdown in AI development, a position backed by OpenAI's Sam Altman and xAI's Elon Musk.

Key Facts

Jacob Coxon resigned from Anthropic on 8 September, citing fears that AI systems could destroy humanity.
Coxon's post on X received more than 100 million views in 24 hours.
Evan Hubinger, Anthropic's alignment lead, estimated the risk of human extinction at over 10% within the next decade.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a slowdown in AI development, supported by OpenAI's Sam Altman and xAI's Elon Musk.
RAND Corporation researcher Michael Vermeer said extinction predictions involve untestable claims and resemble faith more than science.

Origins of the Warning

Jacob Coxon, a researcher at Anthropic, resigned on 8 September and told the Wall Street Journal he feared the systems the company is developing could spiral out of control and destroy humanity. In his first post on X, Coxon wrote that people building AI earnestly believe it could kill us all by the end of the decade. Hours later, Evan Hubinger, who leads Anthropic's alignment science, reposted the message and added his own estimate that the risk of human extinction is over 10% within the next decade. Coxon's post received more than 100 million views in 24 hours.

Industry Reaction

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei posted an essay calling for a slowdown, but not a halt, in AI development. Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk of xAI have since backed this suggestion. The warnings from Coxon, Hubinger, and Amodei did not include precise details on how AI might dispose of humanity.

Scientific Skepticism

Michael Vermeer, a researcher at the RAND Corporation, said that making such predictions involves so many untestable claims that the conversation becomes more like faith than something scientific or empirical. Vermeer added that this makes basing any course of action on these conversations difficult. A speculative forecast called AI 2027, developed by the non-profit AI Futures project, describes an AI unleashing a biological weapon to kill humans and make space for solar panels and robot factories.