Pirate Wires Says PR Firm Sought Interviews for Jacob Coxon After His AI Warning

Pirate Wires says a PR firm helped arrange media appearances for Jacob Coxon after the former Anthropic researcher posted a warning about AI. Coxon later answered “Not at all” when asked whether he had worked with third parties in going public. The question is what his answer covered.

The warning came first

Coxon announced his resignation from Anthropic on September 8. He accused Anthropic and OpenAI of racing toward self-improving superintelligence and gambling with human lives. In his X post, he said people building AI believed it could “kill us all by the end of the decade.” The post received more than 170 million views, according to Stocktwits.

Pirate Wires said it spoke with two people familiar with the matter and reviewed an email in which DEY. Ideas + Influence sought to book Coxon for a September 9 interview. The request came the day after he posted his warning. Pirate Wires described DEY. as working with Coxon on media appearances, according to Stocktwits’ account of the investigation.

On September 9, Fox News anchor Bret Baier asked Coxon, “Did you work with any third parties as far as this whistleblowing and coming out?” Coxon answered, “Not at all.” The reported interview request and Baier’s question were both dated September 9, but their order that day is unclear.

Soares accounts for the introduction

Nate Soares, president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, said on X that he introduced Coxon to DEY. after Coxon’s post passed 100,000 likes. Pirate Wires reported that the post reached that mark within a day. Soares’s account places the introduction after the warning drew attention, though Pirate Wires could not determine exactly when Coxon’s relationship with the firm began.

Pirate Wires reported that DEY. also worked to book appearances for Soares during Coxon’s media push. The firm has advised Soares’s institute and worked with other figures in AI-safety debates. Coxon and DEY. did not immediately respond to Pirate Wires’ requests for comment, according to Stocktwits.

Publicity is not proof about the risk

Coxon wrote, “This is not a marketing stunt,” in his warning. The reported PR work raises a question about how he described help publicizing his concerns, especially after Baier asked him directly about third parties. But arranging coverage is different from inventing a warning. The Pirate Wires findings do not establish that Coxon fabricated his AI-risk claims, as Stocktwits notes.