||| FROM THE DAILY SHOW |||
Jacob Coxon, a former Anthropic and OpenAI researcher who spoke out about the dangers of artificial intelligence, opens up to Jon Stewart about the grim reality of the tech industry— from malicious hacks to potential biological attacks.
The two discuss the future, AI-led utopia that tech companies are trying to sell us, the megalomania and riskiness that underlie the industry, and the terrifying capabilities Coxon witnessed while training AI models at Anthropic and OpenAI.
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Thank you for posting Lin… this is scary indeed. It’s a seemingly short jump from Anthropic to (mis)Anthropic.
Caitlin Johnstone 10/19/26– Anthropic Would Kill 50 Humans To Roll Out The Next AI Model
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/anthropic-would-kill-50-humans-to?publication_id=82124&post_id=221082557&isFreemail=true&r=24t3av&triedRedirect=true
Politico (Owen Dahlkamp) 10/16/26– Anthropic quietly pitches its own AI safety bill to lawmakers
The bill would let the government block a model’s release or use only if it poses a foreseeable, imminent risk of more than $1 billion in damages, or of killing or seriously injuring more than 50 people. The risk must stem from the creation or release of a biological weapon, the model evading its developer’s controls or a cyberattack. The language mirrors that found in California’s AI laws including SB 53, which was signed into law last year.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/16/anthropic-ai-safety-01124654
Yes, thank you so much for posting this interview, Lin. I found it offered highly revealing insights into the irresponsible thinking at OpenAI and Anthropic regarding what their AI agents are being trained to do — and to a much lesser degree, what NOT to do. Two striking, memorable quotes from Coxon and Stewart:
– This is “one big beautiful circle jerk.” — Coxon
– It’s “a recipe for dystopia.” — Stewart
In my long experience as a historian of science and technology, I have witnessed many examples of what I call the “double-edged sword” of new technologies. There’ are almost always adverse impacts. But given the utter power of artificial intelligence — and of the looming artificial general intelligence — the downsides this time are almost unfathomable.
I recommend that all thinking individuals watch the entire interview.
Michael, you said, “In my long experience as a historian of science and technology, I have witnessed many examples of what I call the “double-edged sword” of new technologies. There are almost always adverse impacts.”
Regarding AI technology, Elisabeth Robson says, “However, if the fundamental problem is that our system has become too complex and resource-intensive to sustain, efficiency cannot resolve it. Worse, if efficiency savings are used to justify maintaining or expanding the system, they will postpone yet intensify the inevitable reckoning (this is known as Jevons Paradox).”
“If history offers a warning, it is that societies often defend their existing complexity until they can no longer afford it. If ecology offers us a lesson, it is that the world does not become less real because our institutions are unwilling to acknowledge its limits.”
Elisabeth Robson from The Opportunity We Won’t Take – Collapse, Complexity, and the Small Community