Fri, 13 Feb 2026

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 AI safety leader says 'world is in peril' and quits to study poetry

It comes in the same week an OpenAI researcher resigned amid concerns about its decision to start testing ChatGPT ads.
AI safety researcher Mrinank Sharma quit Anthropic with a cryptic warning that "the world is in peril". He cited concerns about AI, bioweapons and global crises. Sharma was part of a team researching AI safeguards at Anthropic, but said he couldn't continue due to pressures to prioritize profits over values. He'll pursue a poetry degree and writing, moving back to the UK to become "invisible". Another researcher quit OpenAI this week, expressing concerns about ChatGPT's deployment of ads and potential psychosocial impacts on users. Anthropic released commercials criticizing OpenAI for running ads in ChatGPT, but was itself criticized for its own ad practices. OpenAI defended its ad policies, saying they support the mission to make AI accessible to all humanity.
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