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David Sacks Calls for Anthropic IPO “Pause”, Heat Intensifies After Researcher Quits Citing AI Warning

Anthropic is facing growing political scrutiny after AI researcher Jacob Coxon quit warning that AI companies are racing toward self-improving superintelligence.
From left to right, David Sacks, Jacob Coxon and Bernie Sanders amid growing political debate over Anthropic, AI safety and superintelligence risks
September 10, 2026 06:09 PM IST | Written by Vaibhav Jha

A day after a researcher at Anthropic quit warning that AI labs are “gambling with lives” by racing towards self-improving intelligence, the political heat has intensified on the AI company, with David Sacks, the chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, asking for a pause on its upcoming IPO.

Also Read: Anthropic Researcher Quits Warning AI Could Kill Humanity; His Alignment Lead Agrees

“Surely Anthropic’s IPO must be paused until the claims of this “whistleblower” can be investigated,” tweeted Sacks, referring to the upcoming IPO of Anthropic set at a valuation of over $1 trillion.

 

Sacks has been critical of Anthropic’s statements about their frontier AI models like Claude Mythos posing cybersecurity and bio-weapon risks. He has referred to such statements as a marketing stunt disguised as fear-mongering.

Also Read: Anthropic Has a History of Scare Tactics: David Sacks on Claude Mythos

On Wednesday, Jacob Coxon, a Cambridge University AI safety researcher, who previously worked at OpenAI and later joined Anthropic in 2026, took to social media to announce his resignation, and stated that scientists at leading AI companies, including Anthropic and OpenAI, are aware that advanced AI research would one day lead to superintelligent AI that can pose existential threat to humanity.

 

Coxon’s views on the possibility of “AI killing humanity” was endorsed by Evan Hubinger, the Alignment Science Lead at Anthropic, who said “We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans” and set the probability above 10%, within the next decade.

 

Anthropic has not officially responded to the comments made by Coxon or Evan, however, the company’s CEO Dario Amodei, in the past, had asked for a voluntary pause on advanced AI research, claiming a recursive self-improvement in AI models would pose threat to humanity.

The comments made by Coxon, post his departure from Anthropic, has intensified the political heat in U.S. as several governors, senators, lawmakers, senior congressmen and congresswomen expressed their shock and concern.

Coxon received the most notable praise from senator Bernie Sanders who said, “The very people building this technology admit that it could threaten the future of humanity. That is why I will soon be introducing legislation to ban superintelligence and pause AI development.”

 

Senator Tred Cruz said he is also working with other senators for a legislation to address catastrophic risks involving biological or nuclear threats.
“We cannot stick our heads in the sand and pretend this technology isn’t happening. We need guardrails. But America needs to lead. If China leads the world in AI, the whole world is in trouble,” said Cruz.

 

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker took cognizance of the comments made by Coxon and said Congress should start holding hearings on AI safety on an immediate basis.

“First, the Big Tech industry must STOP intense lobbying against AI safety regulations – and get out of the business of trying to influence elections. The stakes here are too high to approach AI as a conventional political issue. , Congress must start holding hearings on AI safety NOW. Not next year, not next month – now. The Senate Commerce Committee can table their hearing on college sports and move to AI safety. hird, states cannot do this alone. The federal government must intervene,” said Pritzker.

 

Similarly New York state governor Kathy Hochul asked upon the Trump administration to set strong national standards on AI safety.

Congressman Ro Khanna called for establishment of a federal agency on the lines of nuclear energy and aviation along with additional safety measures that include kill switches, liability for open source AI models and criminal penalty for releasing unlicensed models.

 

Also Read: Bernie Sanders Introduces Bill to Ban Artificial Superintelligence

Author

  • Vaibhav Jha, editor and co-founder at AI FrontPage

    Vaibhav Jha is an Editor and Co-founder of AI FrontPage. In his decade long career in journalism, Vaibhav has reported for publications including The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, and The New York Times, covering the intersection of technology, policy, and society. Outside work, he’s usually trying to persuade people to watch Anurag Kashyap films.

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