Anthropic’s Jack Clark takes the AI ‘sudden change’ warning to the IMF

Jack Clark, co-founder and head of policy at Anthropic, is scheduled to deliver the Per Jacobsson Lecture on October 17, 2026, during the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand. What Clark plans to say The Per Jacobsson Foundation hosts the event. This year’s lecture will focus on how fast-moving AI could reshape three areas: scientific discovery, the economy, and everyday life. Clark is expected to argue that the evolution of AI capabilities is producing abrupt shifts rather than gradual ones. Clark will likely point to Anthropic’s own experience as evidence. As of August 2026, the company’s Claude model accounted for 26% of its R&D activities. In February of the same year, that figure was less than 1%. A month of warnings before the main event Throughout September 2026, Clark spoke with various media outlets about the implications of AI technologies, raising concerns about the real-world risks that certain AI systems pose and calling for stronger regulatory measures. Two proposals stood out. The first is verifiable oversight, meaning regulators and the public should be able to confirm that AI developers are actually following the rules. The second is mandatory sa...