An Anthropic researcher’s doomsday warning comes at a very interesting time
An Anthropic researcher resigned warning the company is 'gambling with our lives' racing toward superintelligence, timed with its reported IPO preparation.
TechCrunch's Equity podcast discusses the resignation of an Anthropic researcher who warned on X that the company is 'racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives'. The company's own alignment lead co-signed the message rather than walking it back. The hosts note the warning lands differently with Anthropic reportedly preparing for an IPO. The episode also covers Apple's AI-focused event, Stokes Space's $1 billion raise, Cognition raising $2 billion at a $48 billion valuation, and a $50 million seed round for floating nuclear reactors.
- Anthropic researcher publicly warned of risks from self-improving superintelligence
- Anthropic's alignment lead co-signed the resignation message
- Warning coincides with reports of Anthropic preparing for an IPO
- Cognition raised $2 billion at a $48 billion valuation
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An Anthropic researcher resigned this week, warning in a post on X that the company is “racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives”. The company’s own alignment lead even co-signed the message rather than walking it back. It’s the kind of doomer warning the AI industry has flirted with before, but the timing, with Anthropic reportedly preparing for an IPO, makes it land differently.
On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane dig into the latest AI safety warning and what it says about the industry’s race toward increasingly capable models. Plus, Apple’s first big event under new CEO John Ternus and more of the week’s headlines.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- Why Apple leaned hard into AI at its hardware event, and how always-on features baked into the Watch and AirPods may matter more than the splashy new foldable iPhone
- How Stokes Space’s $1 billion raise reflects a launch market that’s suddenly wide open now that SpaceX is winding down its Falcon rockets
- Why investors poured $2 billion into coding startup Cognition at a $48 billion valuation, and what it says about how much room VCs think is left in AI coding
- A $50 million seed round for floating nuclear reactors and the scramble to power AI data centers
Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.
Theresa Loconsolo is an audio producer at TechCrunch focusing on Equity, the network’s flagship podcast. Before joining TechCrunch in 2022, she was one of 2 producers at a four-station conglomerate where she wrote, recorded, voiced and edited content, and engineered live performances and interviews from guests like lovelytheband. Theresa is based in New Jersey and holds a bachelors degree in Communication from Monmouth University.
You can contact or verify outreach from Theresa by emailing [email protected].
Anthony Ha is TechCrunch’s weekend editor. Previously, he worked as a tech reporter at Adweek, a senior editor at VentureBeat, a local government reporter at the Hollister Free Lance, and vice president of content at a VC firm. He lives in New York City.
You can contact or verify outreach from Anthony by emailing [email protected].
Sean O’Kane is a reporter who has spent a decade covering the rapidly-evolving business and technology of the transportation industry, including Tesla and the many startups chasing Elon Musk. Most recently, he was a reporter at Bloomberg News where he helped break stories about some of the most notorious EV SPAC flops. He previously worked at The Verge, where he also covered consumer technology, hosted many short- and long-form videos, performed product and editorial photography, and once nearly passed out in a Red Bull Air Race plane.
You can contact or verify outreach from Sean by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at okane.01 on Signal.
Kirsten Korosec is a reporter and editor who has covered the future of transportation from EVs and autonomous vehicles to urban air mobility and in-car tech for more than a decade. She is currently the transportation editor at TechCrunch and co-host of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast. She is also co-founder and co-host of the podcast, “The Autonocast.” She previously wrote for Fortune, The Verge, Bloomberg, MIT Technology Review and CBS Interactive.
You can contact or verify outreach from Kirsten by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at kkorosec.07 on Signal.
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