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Scientist Yann LeCun attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos. FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images

AI pioneer Yann LeCun torches Dario Amodei's doomsday talk: 'The worst marketing campaign you can possibly imagine'

Rinna Diamantakos
Oct 2, 2026
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In 2018, Yann LeCun won the computer science equivalent of the Nobel Prize, the Turing Award, along with two other AI researchers for their work on deep learning — the tech that underpins the current AI boom. Members of the group were christened the “godfathers of AI.” But nearly a decade later, LeCun stands out as the only one of the three who is not concerned about the potential dangers of the tech.

LeCun told Fortune that he isn’t worried “at all” about AI taking out humanity and has “zero concerns” about rogue AI incidents. He also isn’t shy about criticizing AI leaders who have said they are nervous about the technology, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.

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He told Fortune he thinks Amoedi, who issued a letter in September calling for the deliberate slowdown of AI development, is “deluded” and “crazy.”

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He also told Fortune that Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman “saying, ‘AI can kill us all’ is incredibly destructive for everybody, including for the public who’s scared.” LeCun argued the rhetoric is also bad for the industry and called it “the worst marketing campaign you can possibly imagine.”

LeCun takes aim at Amodei

According to Fortune, Amodei and many of Anthropi’s founding staff are known for their interest in effective altruism (EA), a school of thought that purports to use evidence and reason to try and do the most good. The philosophical movement has been obsessed with the potential risks AI poses to humanity. It made headlines in September after a former Anthropic and OpenAI researcher claimed employees at the companies “earnestly believe [AI] could kill us all by the end of the decade.”

Amodei has denied being an EA adherent, but LeCun said that Amoedi’s sister is married to the co-founder of two EA-aligned philanthropies, including Open Philanthropy (now renamed Coefficient Giving).

“Dario tries to distance himself from Open Philanthropy, but he’s totally into it,” LeCun told Fortune. “I think he’s completely deluded.”

The computer scientist believes EA is “super toxic,” and claims people who work in AI labs and follow the philosophy suffer from “paranoia.” According to LeCun, this causes them to make bad decisions.

“Apparently people are having mental issues,” LeCun told Fortune.

On Sept. 22, the Financial Times reported staff at some of the worlds-leading AI companies were suffering from mental strain over fears of the tech’s threat to society. Staff at the UK’s AI Security Institute, as well as Anthropic, OpenAI and Google DeepMind have reportedly quit over the mental toll or fear their work was unsafe for public release.

LeCun isn’t phased.

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He told Fortune he thinks the risks are overblown and that constant warnings from AI leaders are counterproductive. He also isn’t concerned about AI agents going rogue. In July, OpenAI’s agents autonomously hacked Hugging Face, another AI company. But LeCun attributes that to poor human oversight and system designs.

“Those agents are doing exactly what they’ve been asked to do,” LeCun said. “They were supposed to be in sandboxes, but the sandboxes were leaky and horribly designed.” He told Fortune he believes these incidents are “totally preventable” but that many AI labs lack an understanding of cybersecurity.

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LeCun’s concerns

The computer scientist is known for publicly condemning President Donald Trump but when it comes to AI regulations, they’re aligned. LeCun believes AI does not require regulation — and said he’s more concerned about AI regulatory capture.

The term refers to the idea that major companies can shape government rules to make it more difficult for smaller competitors to emerge. According to Fortune, many EA-backed groups are active lobbyists for AI safety bills on Capitol Hill.

While LeCun admits he thinks Amoedi is being “honest” about his fears, he takes issue with his rhetoric.

“He’s trying to do the best thing for the company, which is close to its IPO,” he told Fortune. “But claiming AI is too dangerous to put in our hands, and saying it should be regulated, and saying open source [models] are too dangerous — this is regulatory capture that would have a terrible effect if it’s followed by acts of Congress.”

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Rinna Diamantakos Contributing Editor

Rinna Diamantakos is a contributing editor at Moneywise.com. A versatile journalist, she has experience as a writer, editor and producer. Her work has focused on politics, business and financial news.

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