AI researchers are sounding the alarm on their way out the door
AI researchers are sounding the alarm on their way out the door
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/11/business/openai-anthropic-departures-nightcap
Publish Date: 2026-02-11 17:53:00
Source Domain: www.cnn.com
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New York
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“The world is in peril,” warned the former head of Anthropic’s Safeguards Research team as he headed for the exit. A researcher for OpenAI, similarly on the way out, said that the technology has “a potential for manipulating users in ways we don’t have the tools to understand, let alone prevent.”
They’re part of a wave of artificial intelligence researchers and executives who aren’t just leaving their employers — they’re loudly ringing the alarm bell on the way out, calling attention to what they see as bright red flags.
While Silicon Valley is known for high turnover, the latest churn comes as market leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic race toward IPOs that could turbocharge their growth while also inviting intense scrutiny of their operations.
In just the past few days, a number of high-profile AI staffers have decided to call it quits, with some explicitly warning that the companies they worked for are moving too fast and downplaying the technology’s shortcomings.
Zoë Hitzig, a researcher with OpenAI for the past two years, broadcast her resignation Wednesday in a New York Times essay, citing “deep reservations” about OpenAI’s emerging advertising strategy. Hitzig, who warned about ChatGPT’s potential for manipulating users, said that the chatbot’s archive of user data, built on “medical fears, their relationship problems, their beliefs about God and the afterlife,” presents an ethical dilemma precisely because people believed they were chatting with a program that had no ulterior motives.
Hitzig’s critique comes as the tech news site Platformer reports that OpenAI disbanded its “mission alignment”…
