Jacob Coxon testifies at a New York City Council oversight hearing on the risks posed by artificial intelligence. (EPA Images pic)

NEW YORK: Leading artificial intelligence companies do not know how to keep AI systems from pursuing objectives their developers did not assign, whistleblower Jacob Coxon, a former OpenAI and Anthropic employee, warned Monday.

"Companies are being extremely reckless given the stakes," Coxon told local lawmakers at a hearing before the New York City Council.

In early September, the British researcher published a statement on X explaining his decision to resign from Anthropic, saying AI developers sincerely believed the technology could "kill us all by the end of the decade."