Mrinank Sharma is not just another name in the AI world who just decided to quit the industry. He is a young AI safety researcher who worked at Anthropic, the company which is behind Claude AI and one of the biggest players in the artificial intelligence industry currently. His sudden post has shocked the people who are working in the AI industry to make a difference. While stepping down from his role, he shared a cryptic post on social media, mentioning why it is so important for him to quit the industry.
Why did Mrinank Sharma depart from Anthropic?
Anthropic has a reputation for talking a big game about ethics and responsible AI. Dario Amodei, the CEO, is always out front pushing for AI safety. Yet Sharma's leaving the company from the reputable position puts a spotlight on the gap between what companies promise about AI safety and what actually happens behind closed doors.
Sharma did not just quit quietly. In a kind of mysterious post on X (formerly known as Twitter), he stated that the world is juggling all sorts of crises – AI is just one of them.
Bioweapons, global politics, breakneck tech changes—it’s all piling up.
“The world is in peril… We are approaching a threshold where our wisdom must grow as fast as our power,” he wrote.
Coming from someone inside a top AI position from a leading company, it’s one thing for outsiders to worry about runaway AI; it’s another when the insiders start to sound the alarm.
In his resignation letter to colleagues, Sharma talked about internal friction. Publicly, companies like Anthropic talk a lot about values and safety. But he’s seen firsthand how tough it is to actually live those values when real-world pressures kick in. “I’ve repeatedly seen how hard it is to truly let our values govern our actions,” he said. It’s a familiar story in Big Tech. Remember when Dr Timnit Gebru left Google in 2020? That sparked a huge debate over how serious tech giants really are about ethics.
Sharma’s job at Anthropic
At Anthropic, Sharma joined the AI safety team back in 2023. His main job was to make sure that the advanced AI systems stay transparent and aligned and do not go off the rails. Anthropic’s influence in AI is only getting bigger, so when Sharma suddenly decided to leave, people in tech circles took notice.
At Anthropic, Sharma joined the AI safety team. His job was to make sure that the advanced AI systems stay transparent and aligned and do not go off the rails. The company's influence in AI is only getting bigger, so when Sharma suddenly decided to leave, people in tech circles took notice.
Sharma’s background
Sharma’s academic background is impressive, as he finished a DPhil in machine learning at Oxford (United Kingdom) and picked up a master’s in the same field from Cambridge (East England).
What’s next for Mrinank Sharma after quitting Anthropic?
Sharma stepped away from trying to make AI systems ‘less sycophantic’ – it means it can generate anything like real with the artificial intelligence. As per his cryptic post on social media, he feels drawn to writing and poetry – ways to make sense of the chaos around us.
For Sharma, poetic truth and scientific truth both matter in shaping where technology goes. Sharma has planned to study poetry and focus on what he calls “courageous speech” – writing that tackles hard truths and moral dilemmas head-on.
He wrapped up his social media post with a quote from poet William Stafford, a nod to staying grounded while the world keeps changing.
Not the first case in quitting AI job
Sharma’s exit is not an isolated case. More and more, AI researchers at powerful companies are fighting with ethical doubts. As AI keeps shaping society, the real question arises about whether we are moving too fast and losing sight of wisdom and responsibility along the way.