AI Safety Researchers Flee Big Tech Over Concerns of Rapid Development
Two artificial intelligence safety researchers have left Anthropic and Google DeepMind to join an independent research organization, warning that increasingly capable AI systems are developing faster than safeguards designed to keep them under control.
Joe Benton, who led a safety research team at Anthropic, and Josh Engels, who worked on AI safety at Google, said they are joining METR to investigate incidents in which AI systems stray from human instructions or intentions. Their departures come days after Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned and publicly accused leading AI companies of moving too quickly in their pursuit of more powerful systems.
Benton and Engels described their concerns in interviews with NBC News, calling for greater transparency around incidents involving advanced AI systems. Benton said further advances in AI research could accelerate an already rapid pace of development, while Engels argued that responsibility for controlling the technology remains largely with the companies building it.