SAN FRANCISCO — The silicon-scented air of AI’s “Big Three” labs is growing heavy with internal dissent. Within days of each other, key researchers from OpenAI and Anthropic have publicly signaled that the rapid acceleration toward AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) is approaching a dangerous “threshold.”+1
On Wednesday, February 11, 2026, Hieu Pham, a seasoned researcher currently at OpenAI and a veteran of Elon Musk’s xAI, issued a haunting warning on social media about the loss of human purpose.
1. Hieu Pham: “It’s When, Not If”
Pham, who holds a PhD from Carnegie Mellon and has worked at Google Brain and xAI, took to X (formerly Twitter) to express a sudden, profound shift in his perspective.
“Today, I finally feel the existential threat that AI is posing,” Pham posted. “When AI becomes overly good and disrupts everything, what will be left for humans to do? And it’s when, not if.”+2
The post, which has since gone viral, triggered a wave of “What did you see?” inquiries from the tech community. Pham’s role at OpenAI—reportedly focused on reasoning models and high-speed neural kernels—places him at the center of efforts to make AI “think” before it speaks, a capability that mimics human deliberation.
2. The Anthropic Exodus: Mrinank Sharma
Pham’s warning follows the resignation of Mrinank Sharma, the lead of Anthropic’s Safeguards Research Team, on February 9, 2026. Sharma’s departure was not a quiet career move but a clarion call.+1
- The “Peril” Warning: Sharma stated that the world is in “peril” from a series of interconnected crises, of which AI is a major driver.
- The Wisdom Gap: He warned that humanity’s capacity to affect the world is outstripping its collective wisdom.
- The New Chapter: In a move that underscored his “existential weight,” Sharma announced he was leaving the high-tech world to pursue poetry, a stark rejection of the digital acceleration he helped build.
3. The Internal “Vibe Shift”
For years, existential warnings came from outside critics. Now, the calls are coming from inside the house.
| Researcher | Current/Past Lab | Core Concern |
| Hieu Pham | OpenAI, xAI, Google | Loss of human purpose and total societal disruption. |
| Mrinank Sharma | Anthropic | AI-driven “interconnected crises” and lack of human wisdom. |
| Geoffrey Hinton | Google (Exited) | Loss of control; machines outsmarting humans without shared goals. |
4. Public Reaction: Purpose vs. Leverage
The tech world’s response to Pham’s post has been a mix of dread and techno-optimism.
- The Optimists: Argue that AI won’t remove purpose but “compress leverage,” allowing humans to build complex things (like curing cancer or colonizing stars) that were previously impossible.
- The Humanists: Suggest that humanity’s “new job” will be to reclaim analog joys—family dinners, live music, and sustainable farming—while AI handles the “drudgery.”