A viral social media post by Jacob Coxon, a researcher who recently resigned from Anthropic, has triggered a surge of media coverage warning that advanced AI could pose an existential threat to humanity. Coxon's claim that AI developers themselves believe their creations could kill everyone by the end of the decade prompted numerous television appearances and commentary, though critics note that even experts within the industry disagree on how serious the danger really is, making it hard for journalists to assess the claims accurately.

Coxon has warned of risks including hacking, mass persuasion, bioweapons and rogue drone networks, while Anthropic's chief executive, Dario Amodei, broadly endorsed his concerns in a lengthy public essay and television interview, though he put the probability of catastrophe as low rather than high. The White House, represented by President Trump, downplayed the alarm, framing AI development chiefly as a competitive race against China. Others, including tech investor David Sacks, have accused Anthropic and OpenAI of exaggerating dangers to encourage regulation that would entrench their market dominance, while Barack Obama has urged Democrats to prioritise AI regulation as a political issue.