Alarm Raised at San Francisco's Top AI Labs

Departing researchers from OpenAI and Anthropic voice ethical concerns about the tech companies' practices.

Published on Feb. 12, 2026

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Two high-profile researchers have recently left OpenAI and Anthropic, San Francisco's leading artificial intelligence labs, and publicly voiced concerns about the companies' ethical practices. Mrinank Sharma, a safety researcher at Anthropic, wrote a lengthy letter saying "the world is in peril" and that he struggled to uphold the company's values. Meanwhile, Zoë Hitzig, a researcher at OpenAI, published an op-ed in the New York Times criticizing the company for prioritizing profits over user privacy and safety.

Why it matters

The departures of these researchers, who were tasked with studying the ethical implications of AI, raise serious questions about the ability of these prominent tech companies to responsibly develop powerful AI technologies. Their public critiques come at a sensitive time, as OpenAI and Anthropic have been aggressively marketing their AI products and services.

The details

Mrinank Sharma, who worked at Anthropic for two years, published a letter on X (formerly Twitter) saying he was leaving the company to study poetry. In the letter, he praised Anthropic's work but said he repeatedly "saw how hard it is to truly let our values govern our actions" due to "pressures to set aside what matters most." Zoë Hitzig, a researcher at OpenAI, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times criticizing the company for potentially misusing the "unprecedented archive of human candor" from ChatGPT to target users with manipulative advertising, despite the company's assurances about ad policies.

  • Mrinank Sharma's last day at Anthropic was February 9, 2026.
  • Zoë Hitzig's op-ed in the New York Times was published on February 12, 2026.

The players

Mrinank Sharma

A safety researcher who worked at Anthropic for two years before departing the company.

Zoë Hitzig

A researcher who left OpenAI and published an op-ed criticizing the company in the New York Times.

Anthropic

A San Francisco-based artificial intelligence research company that has positioned itself as focused on AI safety and ethics.

OpenAI

A prominent San Francisco-based artificial intelligence research company, best known for developing the ChatGPT language model.

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What they’re saying

“The world is in peril, And not just from AI, or bioweapons, but from a whole series of interconnected crises unfolding in this very moment.”

— Mrinank Sharma, Former Anthropic Researcher (X (formerly Twitter)

“I once believed I could help the people building A.I. get ahead of the problems it would create. This week confirmed my slow realization that OpenAI seems to have stopped asking the questions I'd joined to help answer.”

— Zoë Hitzig, Former OpenAI Researcher (The New York Times)

What’s next

Anthropic and OpenAI will likely face increased scrutiny from the public and regulators regarding their ethical practices and the concerns raised by these departing researchers.

The takeaway

The high-profile exits of these AI ethics researchers underscore the challenges tech companies face in balancing innovation, profits, and responsible development of powerful technologies like artificial intelligence.