Former Anthropic, OpenAI employee sounds alarm over AI development pace

Jacob Coxon resigned from Anthropic last week over AI development concerns.

Jacob Coxon, a former safety researcher for Anthropic and OpenAI, applauded Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s calls for a slowdown in artificial intelligence development.

“I think it's great. It's very exciting,” Coxon -- who resigned from Anthropic last week over AI safety concerns -- told “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos Sunday. “I think this is a substantial step towards what I was talking about, needing some sort of slowdown between the people building the different AIs.”

George Stephanopoulos interviews former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon on “This Week.”ABC NewsIn a stunning letter on Saturday titled “We Must Pace the Frontier,” Amodei called for a slowdown in the pace at which artificial intelligence companies develop the revolutionary technology, writing "I believe we owe it to humanity to try."

Coxon made waves last week when he resigned from Anthropic, posting on X that neither Anthropic nor OpenAI "is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives."

He also highlighted the fear within the industry about the potential for an AI takeover: “The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade,” Coxon wrote.

Coxon told Stephanopoulos the way in which his post took off shocked him.

“I wasn't actually hoping for any big response, really. It was exceptionally surprising to see the level of engagement ... and I think it was really indicative of the moment being ripe for this sort of chat," Coxon said.

Coxon also spoke to whether there was a growing sentiment in the companies at which he worked that AI technology was becoming more difficult to control.

“There's not enough time to be constantly thinking about the risks, but definitely, I've noticed that in recent months, it comes up more and more often," Coxon said. "So no matter where you are in the company, probably around a couple of times a week, I guess, there'll be some sort of conversation around the big risks of the technology.”