David Sacks Slams Former Anthropic Researcher's AI Risk Claims, Questions IPO Hype Motive

Former White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks this week accused former Anthropic researcher turned critic Jacob Coxon of orchestrating a coordinated PR campaign, after Coxon canceled an interview hours before it was scheduled to take place.

Sacks Calls Resignation a Carefully Staged Operation

Sacks, speaking on the All-In podcast aired Friday, launched his criticism, saying the media "calls him a whistleblower, but what evidence has he presented that we didn't already know?"

He pressed further: "It's all his personal feelings. Show us the data. Show us the reports. Show us the leaked information the public hasn't seen before."

Sacks' comments came after Coxon resigned from Anthropic earlier this week, warning on X that the company and OpenAI "are racing headlong toward self-improving superintelligence, betting with our lives." The post gained massive traction within a day.

Anthropic's alignment lead Evan Hubinger backed him, saying he believes there is a greater than 10% chance AI causes human extinction within a decade.

Sacks called the timing suspicious, noting that Coxon's account had no posts or followers before the resignation post. "If he had previous posts, they were wiped," Sacks said. "So this is a completely blank account that somehow found such a massive audience within a day."

Sacks Links Viral Post to Anthropic's Own Investor Network

He named three advocacy groups that he said helped spread the post within the first 15 minutes after publication. They are Encode AI, whose general counsel Nathan Calvin supported California's SB 53 AI bill; the AI Policy Network, which backs federal AI regulation; and the AI Futures Project, led by Daniel Kokotajlo. Sacks also noted that Kokotajlo issued similar warnings on Joe Rogan's podcast around the same time.

Sacks tied the three groups to funding from Dustin Moskovitz, an investor in Anthropic's Series A round, calling it "a tight circle that pounced on this tweet quickly." He also said The Wall Street Journal's coverage of the resignation appeared to precede the agreed-upon embargo time.

The key clash began when co-host Jason Calacanis mentioned on the show that Coxon had reached out to appear on the podcast, then backed out on the morning of the scheduled interview. Sacks suggested Coxon may have withdrawn after realizing "this would be a tough interview," adding he would have directly asked Coxon who connected him with The Wall Street Journal before his resignation post.

IPO Timing Raises Disclosure Risks

The controversy comes as Anthropic seeks a reportedly up to $2 trillion IPO. The panel argued that if the company's own safety personnel privately believe its technology poses an existential risk, this would create disclosure issues for its SEC filings and expose Anthropic to product liability claims.

On the show, Sacks noted that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, speaking at a Goldman Sachs technology conference that day, called Coxon's remarks "outrageous and seriously inaccurate."