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Anthropic scientist puts the odds of AI destroying humanity above ten percent this decade

Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger puts odds of AI-caused human extinction above 10% this decade—and a former pretraining scientist just quit over extinction risk.

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The KeyNews take

Why it matters

A senior AI safety researcher at a frontier lab is publicly stating extreme-tail-risk odds, while a colleague departs citing existential risk concerns. This is a people move + safety commentary with policy/societal implications that practitioners and AI-policy watchers will debate.

The key facts

7 to know
  1. Evan Hubinger (Anthropic): >10% probability of misaligned superintelligent AI causing human extinction within this decade

  2. Jacob Coxon: former pretraining researcher at OpenAI and Anthropic, quit citing extinction risk concerns

  3. Coxon accuses both OpenAI and Anthropic of knowingly risking human extinction

  4. Published September 9, 2026

  5. Evan Hubinger (Anthropic) estimates >10% probability of misaligned superintelligent AI causing human extinction within this decade

  6. Jacob Coxon (former pretraining researcher at OpenAI and Anthropic) has quit, accusing both companies of knowingly risking human extinction

  7. Published 2026-09-09

Go to the source

The Decoderthe-decoder.com

Publisher excerpt: Jacob Coxon, a former pretraining researcher at OpenAI and Anthropic, has quit and accuses both companies of knowingly risking human extinction. Anthropic colleague Evan Hubinger puts the odds of a misaligned superintelligent AI wiping out humanity within the next decade at more than ten percent.
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