AI godfather Bengio tells frontier lab employees: leave if you prioritize safety
ShakeelHashim · x · 2026-10-08
Deep learning pioneer Yoshua Bengio published an open letter to frontier AI company employees via Transformer, stating plainly: if you prioritize safety, leave frontier AI companies.
"I ask you to honestly reflect on whether you want to be part of an effort that may be pushing humanity towards the brink," he writes. Bengio admits he fell into motivated reasoning — unable to believe his life's work could cause harm — until ChatGPT's release made the cognitive dissonance unbearable and he realized progress on powerful, uncontrollable systems had outpaced assumptions, after which he devoted himself to AI risk mitigation.
Related event: Yoshua Bengio urges safety-minded staff to quit frontier AI companies(6 posts)→
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