Anthropic Researcher Jacob Coxon Resigns, Urging Labor Action Over AI Extinction Risk
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 28
Anthropic Researcher Jacob Coxon Resigns, Urging Labor Action Over AI Extinction Risk
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 28
Summary
Jacob Coxon left Anthropic this month and called on AI lab researchers to consider collective labor action rather than keep advancing systems they fear could threaten humanity.
Coxon said he and many former colleagues believe AI carries a real risk of human extinction, arguing workers — not executives, investors or the Trump administration — have the leverage to slow development.
That leverage rests on scarcity: a relatively small pool of technical staff can materially stall frontier AI research if they refuse to keep building more capable models.
Researchers have already begun organizing through safety letters, an amicus brief and the Coalition of Concerned AI Staff, formed in February as worries grew over weak federal safeguards on AI surveillance and weapons.