An ex-Anthropic researcher’s doomsday warning comes at a very interesting time

An Anthropic researcher resigned this week, warning in a post on X (techcrunch.com/2026/09/09/gambling-with-our-li…) that the company is “racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives”. The company's own alignment lead even co-signed the message (x.com/EvanHub/status/2097497037956891126) rather than walking it back. It's the kind of doomer warning the AI industry has flirted with before, but the timing, with Anthropic reportedly preparing for an IPO, makes it land differently.

On this episode of TechCrunch's Equity (techcrunch.com/podcasts/equity) podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane dig into the latest AI safety warning and what it says about the industry's race toward increasingly capable models. Plus, Apple's first big event under new CEO John Ternus (techcrunch.com/2026/09/09/everything-apple-ann…) and more of the week's headlines.

Listen to the full episode to hear more about:

• Why Apple leaned hard into AI (techcrunch.com/2026/09/09/apple-ceo-john-ternu…) at its hardware event, and how always-on features (techcrunch.com/2026/09/09/apple-watchs-new-ai-…) baked into the Watch and AirPods may matter more than the splashy new foldable iPhone

• How Stokes Space's $1 billion raise (techcrunch.com/2026/09/08/stoke-space-raises-a…) reflects a launch market that's suddenly wide open now that SpaceX is winding down its Falcon rockets

• Why investors poured $2 billion into coding startup Cognition (techcrunch.com/2026/09/08/cognition-hits-48b-v…) at a $48 billion valuation, and what it says about how much room VCs think is left in AI coding

• What a $50 million seed round for floating nuclear reactors (techcrunch.com/2026/09/08/nuclear-startup-blue…) says about the scramble to power AI data centers

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube (youtube.com/@TechCrunch), Apple Podcasts (itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1215439780), Overcast (overcast.fm/itunes1215439780/equity), Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/5IEYLip3eDppcOmy5DmphC?s…) and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X (twitter.com/EquityPod) and Threads (threads.net/@equitypod), at @EquityPod.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

3:28 Anthropic researcher's resignation warning

9:33 What's actually being done about AI risk?

15:56 Apple's AI-first hardware event

19:56 The case against a standalone AI wearable

21:53 Always-on listening: watch, AirPods, and privacy tradeoffs

26:43 The foldable iPhone's odds

27:16 Stoke Space raises $1B for a reusable rocket

31:17 Cognition raises $2B, betting on room for more AI coding players

34:13 BlueCore Energy's floating nuclear reactors

37:38 Outro

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