Pirate Wires says AI 'doomer' PR firm sought interviews as ex-Anthropic researcher denied outside help

Why it matters

The timeline separates a documented next-day interview-booking effort from the larger, unproven claim that Coxon's original warning was coordinated in advance. That distinction matters when a viral AI safety argument starts influencing public debate and policy discussions.

Communications firm DEY. was seeking media interviews for former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon the day after his warning about AI risk went viral, according to a September 24th report by Pirate Wires. The timing places the reported booking effort after Coxon had already published his warning, complicating claims that the public launch itself was orchestrated by the firm.

Pirate Wires says it reviewed an email in which DEY. sought to book Coxon for an interview on September 9th, and cites two people familiar with the matter who said the firm had been working for him. The report says one source also described DEY. as arranging interviews for AI safety advocate Nate Soares that overlapped with Coxon's public debut. The email, as described in the report, documents a booking effort; it does not establish when any relationship began, whether Coxon had retained DEY., or whether the firm helped prepare his initial statement.

Coxon announced his resignation from Anthropic on September 8th in a Wall Street Journal interview and posted his warning on X later that evening, according to Pirate Wires. On Fox News the next day, when asked whether he had worked with third parties on the announcement, he answered, "Not at all." The Washington Post's account similarly reported Coxon told the paper he had not worked with organizations to promote his announcement before posting. He said he then asked a group of about 10 people to repost it and share it with their contacts; he identified Soares as someone he spoke with.

Those accounts leave an important distinction: Coxon's denial concerned promotion before publication, while the email described by Pirate Wires concerns an interview booking dated the following day. Soares later said he introduced Coxon to DEY. after the post passed 100,000 likes, a milestone Pirate Wires said was reached within 24 hours. That chronology is consistent with the firm becoming involved after the warning had already attracted attention. It does not, by itself, show that DEY. coordinated Coxon's resignation or his original post.

Pirate Wires reports that Coxon appeared on CNN, NBC and Fox on September 9th, while Axios, TIME and WIRED published interviews with him that day. The pace of coverage helps explain why an agency might have been useful once the story broke. It also means the report is about the second stage of the episode - organizing access to a fast-moving media cycle - as much as it is about the statement that started it.

DEY. describes itself as a communications and advisory firm serving organizations, thinkers and authors. Its public site features work connected to the book If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies, co-authored by Soares and AI safety advocate Eliezer Yudkowsky. Pirate Wires says the firm represents Yudkowsky and works with AI safety institutions. That background gives the reported booking an obvious connection to the debate Coxon entered, but it does not establish that the firm directed his claims or that his views were insincere.

The distinction matters because Coxon's central assertion was that leading AI researchers privately fear their work could create catastrophic risks. Whether that warning is accurate is separate from who helped arrange interviews afterward. Communications support can extend a message's reach without manufacturing the belief behind it; treating an interview booking as proof of a coordinated campaign would go beyond the evidence described in Pirate Wires' report.

The report's strongest verified detail is narrow and concrete: an email dated September 9th showed DEY. seeking an interview with Coxon. Its broader claim that the firm had been "working for" him rests on unnamed sources, while the report itself says Soares placed his introduction after the original post had taken off. The public timeline therefore supports a story about rapid post-publication media assistance. It does not establish a pre-planned campaign behind Coxon's resignation or his initial warning.