Ex-OpenAI/Anthropic Pretraining Researcher Quits, Says Labs Are 'Racing to Self-Improving Superintelligence'
sjgadler · x · 2026-09-11
A researcher who spent three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic announced their resignation from Anthropic with a public accusation:
- Neither company "is acting responsibly," they wrote.
- Both labs are "racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives."
- The resignation quickly went mainstream — even Jimmy Kimmel joked about it on air ("10%+ chance Adam Sandler will be exterminated by the end of the decade" without AI guardrails), turning the statement into a viral touchstone in the AI safety debate.
The researcher promised more thoughts to follow.
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