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[The Wall Street Journal: Doomers' Long-Term Influence Anthropic]

The Wall Street Journal reports that, at a coworking space called Constellation in Berkeley, California, a small group of AI researchers are discussing how to avoid catastrophic AI risks. People close to the space said that Anthropic employees also have office space there. The report said that Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned this month, bringing the claim that “uncontrolled AI development could end humanity” to the attention of the U.S. public. The report said that people in the relevant AI safety circle have worried about this issue for more than a decade. They refined their arguments in shared houses in the Bay Area and exchanged predictions at conferences in Berkeley and the Bahamas, discussing ideas such as purchasing remote islands, stockpiling iodine tablets, or moving to electromagnetically shielded bunkers in the desert. 2022 At the bar menu of an annual event, there was also a cocktail named “Death With Dignity,” referring to an article arguing that humanity is already doomed to fail. The Wall Street Journal said that these so-called doomers were among the earliest employees of OpenAI and Anthropic, two companies founded on the principle of guarding against AI dangers. They continue to exert influence, with some personnel and project funding coming from networks associated with effective altruism, including the former chief executive officer of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX Sam Bankman-Fried; the report said that he is serving a 25-year sentence.