I cannot make clearer than in my most recent post (September 11) that the way to understand the impact that Jacob Coxon has had on the nation’s conversation about AI was not to fixate on him. But to, instead, look at what happened through the lens of the leadership system. To look not just at the leader but at the followers and at the context within which leadership took place.
This said, today’s post centers on Coxon. Why was he of all people the messenger who became the leader? Why were we, Coxon’s followers, suddenly ready, willing, and able to hear what he had to say whereas earlier, similar AI warnings went unheeded? They were largely ignored even when they came from people who were infinitely more knowledgeable and accomplished than Coxon – such as “the godfather of AI,” Geoffrey Hinton.
So, some questions followed by some answers. The aim is to explain why Coxon was able, finally, to change the nation’s conversation.
- Who is he? Coxon is a 27-year-old man, born, raised, and educated in Britain.
- What was Coxon’s education? He was trained as a mathematician at Cambridge University.
- What was Coxon’s experience? His experience was primarily as an AI researcher.
- What was Coxon’s employment history? He worked for about four years at OpenAI. And then for about four months at Anthropic before quitting to issue his manifesto.
- What is Coxon’s style? He is a slender, tousle-haired, mild-mannered and boyish-looking Brit. Think Harry Potter.
- How does Coxon speak? Softly, but urgently, and confidently.
- What did Coxon say in his original tweet? His words were strikingly, stunningly, alarming. For example, “AI systems could kill us all by the end of the decade.” And frontier labs are “gambling with our lives.”
- What means did Coxon use to secure his ends? To increase the odds of it getting maximum exposure? First, he dropped it into a small group chat of some ten expert friends and asked them to amplify it. Second, he told a reporter at the Wall Street Journal what he was about to do, thereby priming the mainstream media. According to ChatGPT, Coxon’s message was purposely, and purposefully “injected into a small, well-connected network that included reporters and AI safety influencers who are already closely watched by policymakers and tech media.”
Bottom line: to understand the AI tsunami that seemed to come out of nowhere, look 1) at Coxon’s followers; and 2) at the context within which Coxon was operating; and 3) at Coxon himself. While he was gob smacked by the impact he had, he did know exactly what he was doing and he did know exactly how to do it.