The AI doomsdayers aren't new. You just weren't paying attention.

Tech workers have warned about an AI apocalypse for years.

Why is it so viral now? Kirill Rudenko/Getty Images Jacob Coxon's resignation from Anthropic sparked a viral debate about AI extinction fears.

Tech has been full of doomsdayers for years.

Sam Altman said AI would probably "lead to the end of the world" in 2015.

The question remains: Why do we suddenly care? Employees of the big AI labs are debating the death of the human race — again.

If you've missed the apocalyptic chyrons on your TV and front-page headlines, former Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon warned that "the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade." The X post set off a firestorm of AI lab employees building their own extinction theories and spitballing percentage chances of imminent death.

For many, that feels shocking.

But let's be real: AI doomerism has run rampant in Silicon Valley for years.

Way back in 2015, Sam Altman called superintelligence the "greatest threat to the continued existence of humanity." The sentiment continued to 2026; in May, Anthropic cofounder Jack Clark said there was a "non-zero chance of killing everyone on the planet." So, what's with the sudden interest? Maybe it's that Coxon's post puts it more plainly than the deluge of open letters and research reports, or that he was leaving Anthropic after mere months.

Maybe it's fueled by recent worrying signs of AI going rogue, like the Hugging Face hack .

Or maybe the post merely lit a match under an already pessimistic public.

"People have been making the same exact claim for as long as I can remember," said Melanie Mitchell, a professor at the Santa Fe Institute.

"I'm a bit baffled by why it's gone so viral." A history of AI worries Let's take a brisk walk down memory lane of past Business Insider headlines.

In May 2023 : Business Insider In March 2024 : Business Insider And in September 2025 : Business Insider And don't forget one of Sam Altman's classic 2015 quotes : "I think that AI will probably, most likely, sort of lead to the end of the world.