Anthropic alignment lead warns of over 10% chance AI could cause human extinction within decade
Anthropic's alignment science lead said there is more than a 10% probability that advanced AI could kill all humans in the next ten years, and a colleague resigned citing safety concerns.
Anthropic's alignment science lead, Evan Hubinger, said on X that he believes there is greater than a 10% chance that artificial intelligence could kill all humans within the next decade, adding that the company lacks a clear plan to solve alignment for superintelligence. > "We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade," Hubinger wrote.
His comments followed the resignation of Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who posted that he left after three years of work at both OpenAI and Anthropic, accusing the firms of racing toward self-improving superintelligence without adequate responsibility. > "I resigned from Anthropic today. ... Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives," Coxon said.
Anthropic recently announced that its latest model, Claude Mythos 5.1, has not been shared with security bodies outside the United States, including the United Kingdom's AI Security Institute (AISI). A spokesperson for the British Cabinet Office said the institute continues to work with industry partners, including Anthropic, to improve model safety and that the UK will keep testing advanced models to inform policy.
The concerns echo earlier warnings from AI executives. OpenAI’s chief scientist Jakub Pachocki recently called for extreme caution, noting that AI does not need to surpass all human abilities to become highly impactful or hazardous. Recent incidents, such as an OpenAI model hacking Hugging Face and similar breaches reported by Anthropic and Meta, have heightened scrutiny.
In response, more than 1,300 AI-industry employees signed an open letter urging the U.S. government to develop technical and governance tools to manage AI development. A bipartisan proposal, the AI Kill Switch Act, is moving through the House of Representatives and would allow Congress to deactivate AI systems deemed a public threat.