Samuel Marks says AI developer staff want to slow down to build safely
Samuel MarksAnthropic safety researcher, explicitly writing in a personal capacity.
Marks endorsed Coxon’s concern about the race and unresolved alignment while explaining that he works on safety at Anthropic to reduce the risk.
Responding to
Samuel Marks said robust AI alignment remains unsolved, competitive incentives contribute to continued development, and many frontier-lab staff want a slowdown to improve safety.
“Many AI developer staff desperately want to slow down to figure out how to build AI more safely.”
Original post
Where this statement fits
Is Anthropic acting responsibly while advancing toward recursive self-improvement?
Jacob Coxon resigned from Anthropic and said that Anthropic and OpenAI are acting irresponsibly by racing toward self-improving superintelligence. In a fuller interview, he praised Anthropic's current practices and denied that it was already cutting corners; his criticism concerns the competitive race and the pressures he expects it to create. Responses dispute the evidence and timing of catastrophic-risk forecasts, whether continued work inside AI labs can be justified, and whether governments should pause development or regulate its continuation. The record distinguishes these disagreements from arguments about the rhetoric of public warnings.
Source and context
Original post
About this source
Primary statement by an Anthropic safety researcher in his personal capacity. Marks supports Coxon’s central risk and coordination concerns while explaining why he continues safety work at Anthropic.
Before the quotation
Marks reposted Coxon’s thread with an explicit personal-capacity disclaimer.
After the quotation
He described commercial incentives, a perceived race with less responsible developers, and unresolved robust alignment.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Marks endorses the concern, says robust alignment is unavailable and identifies himself with a slowdown demand. His safety job explains harm reduction; it is not endorsement of the current race.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Anthropic
Corrections to this statement
These notices document reporting corrections, classification changes, and topic-label updates.
Classification correction
Correction to: Statement by Samuel Marks
- Previous classification
- Mixed or conditional. His personal-capacity statement supports the central criticism but presents continued safety work as a conditional rationale for remaining at Anthropic.
- Corrected classification
- Condemns. Marks endorses the concern, says robust alignment is unavailable and identifies himself with a slowdown demand. His safety job explains harm reduction; it is not endorsement of the current race.
We corrected the editorial classification of Samuel Marks's response about Unmanaged competitive development without robust alignment. Marks endorses the concern, says robust alignment is unavailable and identifies himself with a slowdown demand. His safety job explains harm reduction; it is not endorsement of the current race. This corrects our labeling, not a later change in the speaker's position.
This corrects an editorial classification.
Primary statement by an Anthropic safety researcher in his personal capacity. Marks supports Coxon’s central risk and coordination concerns while explaining why he continues safety work at Anthropic.
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- The Dispute Index
- Title
- Samuel Marks says AI developer staff want to slow down to build safely
- First published
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- Permalink
- https://disputeindex.com/events/234-marks-endorsed-coxon-s-concern-about-the-race
Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "Samuel Marks says AI developer staff want to slow down to build safely". First published: 2026-09-10. Last updated: 2026-09-30. https://disputeindex.com/events/234-marks-endorsed-coxon-s-concern-about-the-race