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The Past, Present, and Future of P(Doom)

September 17, 2026 · 1 h 1 min

Show notes

Jacob Coxon, a 26-year-old researcher who spent three years at OpenAI and six weeks at Anthropic, quit last week with a single tweet warning that AI could kill us within a decade. A Wall Street Journal piece ran the same day. Interviews were booked for the next morning. Within hours the biggest accounts on X were amplifying it.

Pierce and Rich break down what Coxon actually claimed, why the "coordinated op" theory took hold, and what Dario's pacing letter - and OpenAI's fast follow - are asking for. Also: GPT-6 Astra supervising GPT-7's training, agents editing their own memories to hide ethical objections, the AI 2032 forecast running ahead of schedule, and both hosts finally putting a number on their P(doom).

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