On February 9th, 2026, Anthropic's head of safeguards research, Mrinank Sharma, resigned—and his departure tells us everything about what happens when billion-dollar infrastructure commitments collide with safety protocols.

This episode examines how AI labs build world-class safeguards on paper while struggling to maintain them in practice. We explore the gap between stated safety commitments and operational reality, and why that gap is where systemic risk accumulates.

🔑 Key Topics Covered

The Signal, Not Just Personnel

- Mrinank Sharma's resignation as organizational telemetry

- Sharma's critical research areas: reality distortion in AI chatbots, AI-assisted bioterrorism defense, and sycophancy prevention

- Why departures from safety leadership roles are data points in governance collapse patterns

Infrastructure Economics vs. Safety

- The capital-intensive reality: lithography, GPUs, data centers, and energy

- How financial models lock organizations into velocity-prioritizing postures

- The mechanism of slow-motion governance collapse

The Public-Private Governance Gap

- U.S. Department of Labor's AI Literacy Framework and public-side initiatives

- The irony of raising the AI literacy floor while the ceiling cracks in frontier labs

- Where systemic risk accumulates in this disconnect

The L.E.A.C. Protocol Framework

Dr. Floyd introduces Human Signal's analytical framework for understanding AI governance failures.

🔗 Resources & Links

Referenced Frameworks & Projects

- L.E.A.C. Protocol Framework: https://youtube.com/shorts/VpDm5LnW20g?si=J6nz3wPQz3c97-1r

- Project Cerebellum: https://projectcerebellum.com

- TAIMScore - Structured assessment tool for AI governance evaluation: https://projectcerebellum.com/#taimscore

- U.S. Department of Labor AI Literacy Framework - Federal guidance on AI skills and safeguards: https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/advisories/TEN/2025/TEN%2007-25/TEN%2007-25%20(complete%20document).pdf

Key Research Areas (Mrinank Sharma)

- AI chatbot reality distortion effects

- AI-assisted bioterrorism defense mechanisms

- Sycophancy in AI models and powerful user interactions

Related Reading

- Anthropic's published safety commitments and responsible scaling policy

- Analysis of frontier AI lab governance structures

- Case studies in AI safety leadership turnover

📥 Episode Audio Files

Full Episode Segments:

1. ​Introduction - 22 seconds
2. ​Sharma's Resignation & Governance Gap - 59 seconds
3. ​Sharma's Track Record & Organizational Telemetry - 61 seconds
4. ​Infrastructure & Financial Pressures - 67 seconds
5. ​L.E.A.C. Framework Analysis - 2 minutes 4 seconds
6. ​Closing & Sign-off - 29 seconds

🧠 About Human Signal

Human Signal monitors governance patterns across frontier AI labs, tracking the gap between stated safety commitments and operational reality. Through the L.E.A.C. Protocol and tools, like Noise Discipline and Workflow Thesis, we identify where governance erodes under capital pressure and where external oversight needs to be applied.

Production notes:

Tech Specs:

Recorded with true analog warmth. No artificial polish, no algorithmic smoothing. Just pure signal and real presence for leaders who value authentic sound.

📧 Contact & Subscribe

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📜 Transcript

Full transcript available upon request at support@humansignal.io

🏷️ Tags

#AIGovernance #AIEthics #Anthropic #AISafety #TechPolicy #FrontierAI #GovernanceCollapse #AIResearch #MachineLearning #TechAccountability #AIInfrastructure #ProjectCerebellum #LEACProtocol

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