CalPERS weighs AI’s risks, to markets and to humanity, as tech valuations soar

Pension boards usually worry about interest rates, inflation and whether retirees will get paid on time. The supervisors of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System spent part of September worrying about the end of the world. CalPERS, the largest public pension fund in the US, held a board discussion on whether artificial intelligence poses risks to its portfolio and to people more broadly. The debate was triggered by a resignation at Anthropic, one of the leading AI labs. A resignation that reached Sacramento The researcher, Jacob Coxon, left Anthropic in 2026. He warned that top AI companies were endangering humanity by racing toward superintelligence. The CalPERS board meeting ran from September 14 to 18, 2026. Members discussed AI’s potential to cause catastrophic harm alongside the more familiar question of what it means for investment returns. The board also deliberated over whether CalPERS should publicly push for AI regulation, or even back a pause on AI development. That is an unusual stance for an institution whose core mandate is paying retirement benefits. Board President Theresa Taylor stressed that the stakes were exceptionally high. In her framing, the issu...