Two AI researchers leave Anthropic and Google over safety: ‘There are no adults in the room’

Citing fears that AI systems may soon spiral out of human control and potentially kill all humans, two more researchers from Anthropic and Google DeepMind who recently left their coveted positions are sounding the alarm about risks from advanced AI systems.

Joe Benton, who used to lead a safety research team at Anthropic, and Josh Engels, who used to work on AI safety research at Google, told NBC News in their first interviews since they left that they see an urgent need to boost transparency about incidents at the cutting edge of AI given the rapid pace of AI development.

Advances in AI research “could speed up the pace of progress from merely blistering at the minute to uncontrollable” rates of development, Benton said in an interview with Tom Llamas.

“There are no adults in the room,” Engels added. “People are trying their best, but there is no one coming to save us.”

Benton and Engels spoke with NBC News in the wake of a viral social media post from former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who left Anthropic on Tuesday. In his post on X announcing his departure, Coxon highlighted his extreme concern about the pace of AI development and…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business