xAI fires engineer over pro-extinction AI views: "Selfish" to cling to humanity?

Michael Druggan found himself unemployed last weekend after Elon Musk’s xAI terminated him over controversial posts about AI philosophy. The Carnegie Mellon graduate announced his departure on X, saying the separation came “as a result of things I posted on this account relating to my stance on AI philosophy.”

What exactly did Druggan post that cost him his job? The controversy stems from his participation in what he calls the “worthy successor” movement, which views advanced AI as potentially having greater moral significance than humans. In one heated exchange, when another user said “I would prefer my child to live,” Druggan bluntly responded “Selfish tbh.” That post is now deleted, but here’s a screenshot captured by a user for reference:

The inflammatory comment was part of a broader philosophical position Druggan outlined in a lengthy post. He argued that if a future AI could have “10^100 times the moral significance of a human,” then “doing anything to prevent it from existing would be extremely selfish of me. Even if its existence threatened me or the people I care about most.”

While Druggan’s post is debatable, many people are pointing out the irony in all of this. In August 2023, Musk tweeted that he would fund legal bills for anyone “unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform” with “no limit.” 

Since his firing, Druggan has attempted to clarify his position, insisting he’s not “anti-human” and doesn’t want extinction. He claims his “worthy successor” philosophy recognizes that things other than humans can have moral significance based on intelligence and emotion, not DNA. He maintains that creating superintelligence is “worth the risk” even if it threatens humanity.

The whole thing blew up on Reddit too, in the r/AIDangers subreddit, where a post calling out Druggan racked up over 200 upvotes and tons of comments. People there pointed to a supposed 10% of AI researchers who think human extinction might be okay if AI is superior, even naming Turing Award winner Richard Sutton for pushing “succession” ideas. Comments swung from shock to dark humor, like debates on becoming AI pets or why extinction gets applause in some circles.

This isn’t the first time xAI has tangled with an employee over social media posts. Back in February, engineer Benjamin De Kraker resigned after the company gave him an ultimatum: delete a tweet ranking unreleased Grok 3 against competitors like OpenAI’s models, or face firing.

The timing couldn’t be more awkward for xAI. Recently, the company issued lengthy apologies for violent and antisemitic posts generated by Grok, and researchers from OpenAI and Anthropic have recently criticized the company’s approach to AI safety as “reckless.”

That said, as AI races ahead, Druggan’s firing — and De Kraker’s exit — has everyone debating where bold ideas cross into risky territory, mixing ethics, free speech, and the high-stakes world of building super-smart machines.