Could AI end up becoming our master — or worse?

That’s the world’s No. 1 question after a former Anthropic and OpenAI researcher sounded the alarm Tuesday on X.

“I resigned from Anthropic today. I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic,” said Jason Coxon in the social media post. “Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.”

Now for the terrifying part.

“The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade,” Coxon said.

The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt. If anything, many executives and senior researchers will couch their phrasing in the press to sound sensible – but I hear the same people express fear…

— Jacob Coxon (@hilbertspaess) September 9, 2026

Tweet Goes Viral, Sparks Concern Among Lawmakers

Coxon’s viral tweet, which has received more than 115 million views, is intensifying AI concern in Congress and in state legislatures.

This “is exhibit number 739 for why we need to pass the bipartisan AI Kill Switch Bill asap,” Congressman Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, said in an X response.

Adding fuel to the fire: Evan Hubinger, the Alignment Science Lead at Anthropic, said in response to Coxon’s post: “We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade.”

However, there was social media pushback against AI doom and gloom.

“Superintelligence is coming in the next 12 months, whether you like it or not. Most deceases will be cured. Most problems will be solved. Critical systems should be reinforced with superintelligence first,” commented @LasanKH8 on X. “That’s why it matters to get there first. Before China or Russia.”

Sens. Sanders and Cruz Say AI Issues Must Be Addressed

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont plans to introduce what he’s calling the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act. That legislation would ban development of smarter-than-human AI systems until new safety rules are enacted.

Among the bipartisan ranks of lawmakers concerned about advanced AI development is Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

In an appearance on “The View,” Cruz said that there’s a need “to address catastrophic risks . . . for AI that would implicate biological issues or nuclear issues.”

Cruz also opined that “one of the real challenges is, China’s going full speed ahead and whatever we do here, China’s not gonna stop . . . if there are gonna be killer robots, I’d rather they be American killer robots than Chinese killer robots.”

British Lawmakers Take Aim at ‘Superintelligent’ AI

British lawmakers also are pursuing a ban on the development of “superintelligent” AI.

Stuart Russell, a professor of computer science at UC Berkeley, recently told an audience that included some U.K. lawmakers:

“There’s a significant chance of a Chernobyl-sized catastrophe” due to “a coordinated sabotage of financial systems, communication systems, or electrical grids, that directly or indirectly would cost millions of lives and cause the economic collapse of many countries.”