Anthropic dials back AI safety commitments

Anthropic, the artificial-intelligence company known for its devotion to safety, is scaling back that commitment.

- Amrith Ramkumar & Georgia Wells

Competitive pressure prompted the pivot.

(REUTERS)

Anthropic, the artificial-intelligence company known for its devotion to safety, is scaling back that commitment.

The company said Tuesday it is softening its core safety policy to stay competitive with other Allabs. Anthropic previously paused development work on its model if it could be classified as dangerous, but said it would end that practice if a comparable or superior model was released by a competitor.

The changes are a dramatic shift from 2 1/2 years ago, when the guardrails Anthropic published guiding the development and testing of its new models established the company as one of the most safety-conscious players in the AI space.

Anthropic faces intense competition from such rivals as Open AI, Elon Musk’s xAI and Google, which regularly release cutting-edge tools. It is also locked in a battle with the Defense Department over how its Claude tools are used after it told the Pentagon they couldn't be used for domestic surveillance or autonomous lethal activities.