This post from the guy the WSJ interviewed was made 15 minutes after the article appeared. Then it was boosted to over 130 million views.
I resigned from Anthropic today. I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives. More thoughts below.
https://x.com/hilbertspaess/status/2097476196791709843?s=20
Do not underestimate the power of this technology. These will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources. We have all witnessed the progress in each of these domains, and progress is not slowing.
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How it was boosted:
This post looks like the start of a VERY sophisticated and well-funded PR operation to get support for Democrats to regulate AI into oblivion. Let me show you how it works:
1.) This guy, with minimal followers and no previous account activity, goes to the Wall Street Journal which publishes an exclusive with quotes from him on his resignation 18 minutes BEFORE this post goes up. Planning was clearly done in advance.
2.) Within hours, it has tens of thousands of reposts and the account has 100k+ followers. The post is punchy, quotable, it almost seems professionally written. The first three accounts to quote tweet it all do so within 15 minutes of the initial posting. Remember, this account had basically zero engagement beforehand, so an organic reach explanation seems unlikely.
According to Grok those accounts are (General Counsel at Encode AI), (Head of Policy at the AI Policy Network), and (Head of the AI Futures Project), all of which are up-and-coming AI-Doomer policy advocacy nonprofits.
The AI Futures Project website says it is funded “primarily” by the Survival and Flourishing Fund, which says on its own website that it has advised Jaan Tallinn, Skype creator and one of the leading investors in Anthropic, to grant over $2.5 million to the AI Futures Project since 2024.
Encode AI says on its website that it is ALSO funded by the Survival and Flourishing Fund, which in turn says that it told Anthropic investor Jaan Tallinn to grant $516,000 to Encode AI in 2025.
And wouldn’t you know it, the Survival and Flourishing Fund ALSO says it told Jaan Tallinn to grant $2 million to the AI Policy Institute, the 501(c)(3) affiliate of the AI Policy Network, as well.
What are the odds that the first three quote tweets of Coxon’s post would all be major AI-restriction policy advocates funded generously by the same donor, who also happens to be one of the leading investors in, and a board member of, Anthropic, the company Coxon was resigning from? And all within 15 minutes of posting (two within ten)?
3.) Jacob Coxon doesn’t have much of a resume, but we do know that, in 2022, he got a $20,159 scholarship for the “long term future scholarship program” from the Good Ventures Foundation, one of the philanthropic vehicles of Dustin Moskovitz, a notorious AI-doomer who has spent tens if not hundreds of millions on policy advocacy to strictly regulate AI, while also being an Anthropic Investor himself.
It also just so happens that the 14th person to quote Coxon’s post was (27 minutes after posting) who is the program officer for the Technical AI Safety team at Coefficient Giving, another of Moskovitz’s philanthropic spending vehicles. Max is not a frequent poster, his last posts before quoting Coxon were before Labor Day, but he was remarkably quick off the mark for this one.
4.) Basically every major Democrat politician and candidate has suddenly glommed on to this post, and conveniently, as the people cry out foe answers, Bernie Sanders already has a bill written to “ban super intelligence” and regulate AI into oblivion, and will be releasing later this week. The bill, among many other things, will create “a new cabinet-level federal agency to safeguard the public from the dangers of artificial intelligence” that will be “advised by an Artificial Intelligence Advisory Board comprised of experts on artificial intelligence.” Do you think, perhaps, Anthropic and its many investors who fund AI policy advocacy might have interest in getting to place a pet “expert” on the board of an entity that dictates what AI is and isn’t allowed to do? And isn’t it fortuitous that this whistleblower came forward with his oh-so scary stories so close in proximity to the release of the most radical piece of AI legislation ever introduced?
So far, at least 22 politicians responded directly to this tweet with calls for legislation to regulate AI:
2 governors, 7 senators, and 13 representatives. Highly partisan - all democrats except for three.
Here's the full list:
- Governor, IL (JB Pritzker - D) x.com/GovPritzker/st
- Governor, NY (Kathy Hochul - D) x.com/GovKathyHochul
- Senator, AZ (Mark Kelly - D) x.com/SenMarkKelly/s
- Senator, DE (Lisa Rochester - D) x.com/SenLBR/status/
- Senator, CT (Chris Murphy - D) x.com/ChrisMurphyCT/
- Senator, VT (Bernie Sanders - D) x.com/BernieSanders/
- Senator, WA (Patty Murray - D) x.com/PattyMurray/st
- Senator, TX (Ted Cruz - R) x.com/SenTedCruz/sta
- Senator, MD (Chris Van Hollen - D) x.com/ChrisVanHollen
- Congressman, IL (Bill Foster - D) x.com/RepBillFoster/
- Congresswoman, IL (Delia Ramirez - D) x.com/repdeliaramire
- Congresswoman, FL (Anna Luna - R) x.com/RepLuna/status
- Congressman, CA (Ro Khanna - D) x.com/RoKhanna/statu
- Congressman, TX (Nathaniel Moran - R) x.com/RepNateMoran/s
- Congressman, VA (Don Beyer - D) x.com/RepDonBeyer/st
- Congressman, PA (Chris Deluzio - D) x.com/RepDeluzio/sta
- Congresswoman, WA (Pramila Jayapal - D) x.com/RepJayapal/sta
- Congresswoman, AZ (Yassamin Ansari - D) x.com/RepYassAnsari/
- Congressman, CA (Dave Min - D) x.com/CongressMin/st
- Congresswoman, MA (Lori Trahan - D) x.com/RepLoriTrahan/
- Congressman, TX (Greg Casar - D) x.com/RepCasar/statu
- Congressman, CA (Ted Lieu - D) x.com/RepTedLieu/sta
- Senate Candidate, MI (Abdul El-Sayed - D) x.com/AbdulElSayed/s
- Congress Candidate, CA (Connie Chan - D) x.com/conniechansf/s
- Congress Candidate, CA (Scott Wiener - D) x.com/Scott_Wiener/s
- Governor Candidate, CA (Xavier Beccera - D) x.com/XavierBecerra/
- British MPs Ian Byrne and Darren Jones x.com/IanByrneMP/sta and
x.com/darrenpjones/s
AI safety concerns have now crossed a threshold. Quite suddenly, this is something normal politicos across the country not only care about, but feel emboldened to act on.
Let me offer three predictions for what this means.
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