Two former employees of AI developer Anthropic have publicly raised alarms over the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence. The researchers fear humanity may lose control of the technology before it can prepare for the consequences, according to infohub.kz.
Joe Benton, former head of Anthropic's safety research team, said he left the developer of the Claude chatbot to join the nonprofit organization METR.
"Last week I left Anthropic to join METR and work on embedded AI risk assessment," Benton said.
METR studies the capabilities of frontier models and seeks to determine when artificial intelligence might begin to pose a serious threat to society. In an interview with NBC, Benton admitted he is particularly worried about the pace at which the technology is advancing, Reuters reports.
"I'm concerned that AI may develop too quickly and we won't be able to take the necessary measures if we don't start thinking about it now," Benton said.
But the alarming admissions from inside one of the largest AI companies did not end there. A few days later, Jacob Coxon, who had previously worked at OpenAI as well, announced his departure from Anthropic.
The researcher accused both companies of engaging in a dangerous race to create self-improving superintelligence. According to him, developers continue to expand model capabilities despite the lack of a reliable way to keep them under control.
"Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight toward self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives," Coxon wrote.
He claims that specialists directly involved in building advanced AI seriously entertain the scenario of humanity's destruction within the coming years.
"The people building AI genuinely believe it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt," the researcher added.
Coxon has left the AI industry entirely, while Benton will continue working on technology safety at the independent organization. Reports that both specialists left Anthropic within two days are inaccurate: Benton announced his decision on September 2, and Coxon on September 8.