Gary Marcus calls for boycotting Generative AI, citing Anthropic and OpenAI scientists' own admissions
GaryMarcus · x · 2026-09-10
Gary Marcus published an essay arguing "the time has come" to boycott generative AI. His core claims:
- Frontier labs are "knowingly and by their own admission" doing something irreversible and incredibly dangerous without public consent
- Harm is already occurring and could get much worse
- Neither the labs nor a government "too tight with industry" has a serious risk-mitigation plan
He cites two pieces of evidence: Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger publicly stated he sincerely believes AI could kill all humans, putting >10% probability within the decade, and that alignment for superintelligence remains unsolved and Anthropic is "not clearly on track" (28M views); days earlier, OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki was similarly candid about the lack of a solution to the alignment problem.
Marcus concedes some fear-mongering may be marketing, but insists real risks exist with no plan behind them — while noting he personally doesn't worry much about extinction, given human geographic and genetic resilience.
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