⚡ A resignation post viewed over 140 million times—was it orchestrated to amplify AI panic for the Democratic Party? Beating AI News Brief: Jacob Coxon, a former researcher at Anthropic, saw his resignation post reach over 100 million views in just one day—and now it has surpassed 140 million. Parker Thayer, an investigator at the U.S. conservative research group Capital Research Center, argues that this viral surge does not appear organic but rather resembles a well-prepared, well-funded PR campaign designed to inflate fears of AI extinction and bolster support for stricter AI regulation by the Democratic Party. First, the dissemination timeline is too rapid. Eighteen minutes before Coxon posted, The Wall Street Journal published an exclusive report on the story. Within 15 minutes of the post going live, the first three users to share and cite it were from Encode AI, AI Policy Network, and AI Futures Project—all organizations long advocating for AI safety and regulation. Second, these organizations share a key financial backer. Public records from the Long-Term Future Fund (SFF) show that Jaan Tallinn, co-founder of Skype, has long funded AI Futures Project, Encode AI, and AI Policy Institute with amounts ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. Tallinn was also an early investor in Anthropic, leading its $124 million Series A funding round in 2021. Third, Coxon himself is connected to this network. Thayer notes that in 2022, Coxon received a “Long-Term Future” fellowship from Good Ventures, founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife—Moskovitz is also an early investor in Anthropic. Just 27 minutes after Coxon’s post went live, Max Nadeau, who oversees AI safety grants at Coefficient Giving—a charity long funded by Moskovitz—also joined in amplifying the message. Finally, political momentum quickly followed. Multiple Democratic politicians immediately cited Coxon’s warnings to call for stronger AI regulation. Progressive heavyweight Senator Bernie Sanders had already drafted legislation days earlier to ban superintelligence and halt advanced AI development. Coxon’s sudden viral rise provided the regulatory advocacy camp with a ready-made political weapon.