Pritzker Calls for Federal AI Safety Action After Anthropic Researcher Resigns

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is urging the AI industry, Congress and the federal government to act on AI safety after Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned with warnings about the industry’s direction. Pritzker wants technology companies to stop lobbying against safety rules, Congress to hold hearings, and federal officials to coordinate protections nationwide.

Coxon publicly announced his resignation from Anthropic on September 8. In his September 9 statement, Pritzker cited Coxon’s departure and his description of the industry’s approach as a “hubristic gamble” on human lives. Coxon has warned that leading labs are racing toward self-improving systems they may not be able to control; that is his assessment and forecast, not an established outcome.

Pritzker’s announcement asks others to act; it does not create a federal program or schedule a congressional hearing. His specific requests were:

1. Technology companies should stop lobbying against AI-safety regulation and respond to concerns from their researchers and developers.
2. Congress should hold immediate AI-safety hearings. Pritzker said the Senate Commerce Committee had no such hearings scheduled.
3. Federal officials should intervene to coordinate AI-safety protections across the United States.

Pritzker argued that Illinois, California and New York have effectively set national AI-safety standards in the absence of federal leadership. He said the three states together account for about 40% of the U.S. AI market; both the estimate and the assessment are his. The Illinois law shows what his state has chosen to require, but his statement does not set out which federal rules Washington should adopt.

Anthropic has said AI brings significant benefits as well as unprecedented risks, and that the industry would benefit from a lawful, verifiable way to coordinate releases of powerful models. Pritzker’s intervention turns Coxon’s warning into a direct political demand. Whether Congress holds hearings or federal officials pursue a national framework now remains unresolved.