The big 3 AI companies all had serious scandals last month. Anthropic pushed a federal AI bill that would make it harder to stop dangerous model training. OpenAI fired three safety researchers based on evidence that’s somewhere between weak and nonexistent. And it came out that Google DeepMind gets staff to sign contracts barring them from criticising anything Google does for the rest of their lives.

But these companies are not beyond influence. The track record of holding them to account — staff objecting internally, journalists digging for dirt, campaigners making a fuss — is impressive for how little effort has gone into it.

Many staff want to do the right thing and can be persuaded on the merits. And the fierce competition for talent forces companies to try to seem like the good guys.

That’s why being a pain in the ass for the leading AI companies is a legitimate career path, and an underrated one.

Inside the companies we need even more staff to speak up clearly and visibly with the substantive case for their firms to raise their game.

And externally we need, among other things:

Investigators uncovering company misbehaviour and failures
Subject matter experts laying out the facts for journalists and politicians
Campaign organisers and social media experts focusing public attention where it’s needed

Today I lay out what each AI company got wrong this time, why the ability to bring down the immediate hammer of fierce public and expert outrage matters more as events speed up, and the many ways you can contribute to that effort.

If you want to work on holding AI companies to account, our career review of AI safety advocacy is a good place to start, our 1–1 advising team can help you think it through, and our job board lists AI safety and policy roles.

This episode was recorded on October 29, 2026.

Links to learn more, video, and full transcript: https://80k.info/AI-accountability

Chapters:

We need a stronger effort to push AI companies to do better (00:00:00)
Anthropic: who gets to pull the brake? (00:01:14)
OpenAI fires three safety researchers (00:07:14)
Google DeepMind’s lifelong gag clause (00:12:44)
Credit where it’s due (00:15:39)
How to make AI companies behave better (00:16:34)
Insiders: if you want to stay (00:17:31)
Insiders: if you’re willing to leave (00:18:40)
So… should you leave? (00:19:37)
Outsiders: what’s already worked (00:20:39)
Outsiders: digging up and explaining (00:22:51)
Outsiders: reaching the public and politicians (00:25:12)
Keep the pressure on (00:27:52)

Our production team includes:

Video editors: Josh Alward, Dominic Armstrong, Jasper Luithlen, Milo McGuire, Luke Monsour, Simon Monsour, Ollie Bignell, and Andrés Escobar
Producers: Elizabeth Cox and Nick Stockton
Coordination and support: Katy Moore and Lou Moran
Camera operator: Dominic Armstrong

Being a pain in the ass to (or in) AI companies is a real job now | Rob Wiblin

80,000 Hours Podcast

Being a pain in the ass to (or in) AI companies is a real job now | Rob Wiblin