Jacob Coxon, a 27-year-old British researcher who worked on pre-training artificial intelligence models, left the sector on Tuesday and publicly accused the two largest companies in the field, OpenAI and Anthropic, of irresponsibility. Coxon had left OpenAI to work at Anthropic, considering it more prudent, but decided to completely abandon the field after realizing that both companies shared the same mentality of racing toward accelerated AI development.
The researcher worked for the past three years on pre-training, the stage in which AI models absorb large amounts of data, first at OpenAI and, since this year, at its main competitor, Anthropic. His experience at both companies led him to the conclusion that neither is acting with the appropriate responsibility.
On social media, Coxon stated that the companies are "racing at full speed toward self-improving superintelligence" and considered them to be "playing with our lives." The researcher also revealed that the very professionals developing AI genuinely believe the technology could represent an existential threat to humanity before the end of this decade.
