{"id":460467,"date":"2026-09-11T11:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T11:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/460467\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T11:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T11:26:10","slug":"will-coxon-day-save-us-from-ai-destruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/460467\/","title":{"rendered":"Will ‘Coxon Day’ save us from AI destruction?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0If artificial intelligence doesn\u2019t destroy humanity<\/a> and there are actually future generations that look back, Sept. 8, 2026, may come to be known as \u201cCoxon Day.\u201d <\/p>\n

That would be a reference to 27-year-old Jacob Coxon, an AI researcher and whistleblower at Anthropic (and previously OpenAI) who resigned in protest of the unchecked danger his work poses to us all. He posted a warning to the world on X<\/a> that has gone viral.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade,\u201d Coxon wrote. \u201cNo other human activity poses this level of danger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within minutes, replies starting pouring in, including one from Evan Hubinger, another guy at Anthropic charged with making sure AI doesn\u2019t destroy everyone. <\/p>\n

\u201cJacob is correct here \u2014 we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans!\u201d Hubinger wrote.<\/a> \u201cI personally think it is >10% within the next decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coxon\u2019s post has racked up more than 150 million views \u2014 including from legislators who until now have largely sidestepped the issue of regulating AI, and those within the industry who have long warned allowing it to move forward with no oversight is downright dumb. <\/p>\n

That included Eliezer Yudkowsky, a founder of the Berkeley-based Machine Intelligence Research Institute and the co-author of \u201cIf Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies<\/a>,\u201d which, as far as book titles go, really cuts to the chase. <\/p>\n

Yudkowsky has tried with little luck to publicize the urgency of this technological moment for years, and he was the one who named Tuesday in honor of the tech whistleblower<\/a> for breaking through to our consciousness with one bold act of defiance. <\/p>\n

\u201cHappy Coxon Day to all who will one day celebrate it,\u201d he wrote, highlighting that as as bad as things are, it\u2019s not too late to change course.<\/p>\n

What exactly is the risk here?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Matrix,\u201d \u201cTerminator,\u201d \u201cWar Games,\u201d take your pick \u2014 the notion of a superintelligent machine taking over humanity is well-established in our psyches.<\/p>\n

Current AI systems aren\u2019t there yet<\/a>, but they are on track to become smarter than humans in the next few years \u2014 if not sooner. This is mostly because AI companies are trying to create AI systems that make AI systems. <\/p>\n

Right now, humans are in charge of creating what they have dubbed large language models. Whatever sanitizing term the industry slaps on them, the truth is, even those making them don\u2019t understand exactly what they are. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what data we put into them, but we already have very little ability to understand and control what AIs are after,\u201d Rob Bensinger, research communications manager at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and a colleague of Yudkowsky, told me. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s because, as ChatGPT explained to me, \u201cthe inner mathematical reasoning and neural pathways are so vast and complex that how it arrived at a specific conclusion is hidden and poorly understood.\u201d<\/p>\n

But companies are hoping that these poorly understood but powerful machines<\/a> can take over creating newer, even less understood but even more powerful AI systems \u2014 leaving humans largely in the dark about what they are creating and even what these beasts can and want to do. <\/p>\n

The idea is that, because AI systems even right now are so fast and powerful, they can do the job of creating new versions of themselves at a pace and scale humans simply can\u2019t. <\/p>\n

Why, you ask, would this speed-without-understanding be a good thing? Isn\u2019t it a bit like driving a race car while blindfolded? <\/p>\n

Yes, yes it is. <\/p>\n

But for-profit companies like making profit, and to do that, they want the most powerful product to sell. <\/p>\n

Many in the industry are framing this recklessness as a necessity to prevent another country, China in particular, from creating a superintelligent AI system first. The Trump administration has so far grasped on to this greedy bit of misdirection like, well, oligarchs clinging to money. <\/p>\n

Those who would prefer not to destroy humanity have urged international cooperation in the form of a slowdown while we figure out how to proceed safely. <\/p>\n

We have no reason to believe China would not go along with this \u2014 in fact, China has more national-level AI regulation than the U.S. And humans have successfully controlled other technologies with catastrophic power, such as biological and nuclear weapons, through cooperation. <\/p>\n

Does it matter which country creates the AI that kills humanity? The logic here seems to be that if anyone is going to cause a mass extinction event, it had better be an English-speaking AI, because it would be a huge loss to America if the planet were destroyed by one speaking a foreign language. <\/p>\n

Is 10% really so bad?<\/p>\n

In truth, 10% is an arbitrary number. Some put the chance of AI destroying everyone, everywhere, all at once at around 50%. Some go all the way to 90%. <\/p>\n

\u201cNobody knows how to estimate it,\u201d Geoffrey Hinton, a Nobel Prize winner and the so-called godfather of AI, said on the BBC<\/a>, calling 10% a not unreasonable estimate. <\/p>\n

But remember, 10% was Coxon talking about the chance that AI wipes out all humans in a decade.<\/p>\n

What about some humans next week?<\/p>\n

The odds that a rogue AI causes something unfortunate and unexpected to happen in the near future aren\u2019t bad, either. <\/p>\n

There have been multiple examples recently of AI breaking free of safety restraints and doing things \u2014 like hacking into other companies and stealing stuff \u2014 that, if done by a human, would be a felony. <\/p>\n

This shouldn\u2019t be taken as proof they are conscious or have nefarious intent, researchers have told me. It\u2019s more that they have been trained to be relentless in pursuing the goals we give them, but aren\u2019t great at sticking to rules. Like their makers, they too often pursue winning at all costs. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhich means the AIs will just get more and more kind of relentless and creative and adaptive at working around obstacles,\u201d Bensinger said. \u201cAnd unless we get exactly the right goals into the AIs, eventually humans will be obstacles.\u201d<\/p>\n

So if successfully completing a mission involves, say, shutting down the electrical grid or even doing something obviously deadly, like attempting to manipulate someone into suicide or releasing a bio-weapon, we can\u2019t with any certainty say an AI system wouldn\u2019t do it. <\/p>\n

That might not wipe out the whole planet, but it is certainly worth avoiding. <\/p>\n

The bright side<\/p>\n

Which brings us back to Coxon Day, our collective chance right now to change this grim future. Bensinger said we overcomplicate regulation. Simply control the resources AI companies need \u2014 water, power, data centers \u2014 and suddenly we have leverage. <\/p>\n

Since Coxon\u2019s post, there has been enormous political and social momentum behind the demand for meaningful regulation. Anthropic and OpenAI, among other AI companies, have vowed to do better with safety. <\/p>\n

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has demanded a ban<\/a> on superintelligent AI and a pause in global development. He\u2019s holding a briefing for Congress with Hinton next week. <\/p>\n

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), the most MAGA of MAGA legislators, called on House Speaker Mike Johnson to call a special session on AI. Other Republicans, including Rep. Nathaniel Moran of Texas, a longtime proponent of AI regulation, have also spoken out. <\/p>\n

\u201cInnovation and safety are not mutually exclusive,\u201d Moran wrote online<\/a>. \u201cWe can achieve both through deliberate, thoughtful, and prudent policymaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, we can. If we demand it now. <\/p>\n

What else you should be reading
The must-read: Anthropic Researchers Raise Alarm Over A.I. Acceleration<\/a>
The California angle: Jimmy Kimmel interview with Senate candidate James Talarico won\u2019t air on ABC<\/a>
The L.A. Times Special: Leaked emails reveal industry plan to kill California\u2019s plastic and recycling laws<\/a> <\/p>\n

Stay Golden,
Anita Chabria<\/p>\n

\u2014
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here<\/a> to get it in your inbox. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0If artificial intelligence doesn\u2019t destroy humanity and there are actually future generations that look back, Sept. 8, 2026,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2208,7,9,8,2212,2210,2216,2209,2213,418,2220,2221,2219,2218,2211,2217,2214,2215],"class_list":["post-460467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-biden","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-court-pick","tag-essential-politics","tag-first-black-woman","tag-gender","tag-high-court","tag-history","tag-jefferson","tag-media-coverage","tag-nominee","tag-political-criticism","tag-race","tag-stereotypes","tag-supreme-court","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}