Anthropic Updates Claude AI Rules, Bans Cruel Behavior and Deceptive Campaigns

Anthropic updated its usage policy for the Claude AI chatbot, effective November 12, to clarify existing rules and add new provisions.

Claude's ability to end these interactions will remain the primary enforcement mechanism. The updated policy does not explicitly cite model welfare, but Anthropic executives have openly considered the concept of AI consciousness. CEO Dario Amodei stated in February that he was unsure if AI models could be conscious but was open to the idea. Anthropic also added a new section, "Do Not Engage in Deceptive Campaigns or Artificial Activity," covering political or commercial deception, efforts to obscure message origins, amplifying content through fake accounts, and building influence operation tools.

The company refined political content restrictions, focusing on disallowing the use of Claude to deceive voters or disrupt elections, renaming that section "Do Not Undermine Democratic Processes." The policy explicitly states Claude cannot be used to develop weapon software or components, arm drones, or other autonomous vehicles, noting recent user attempts to build guidance and control software for weapons.

Surveillance and criminal justice sections were tightened to ban tracking people without consent, doxxing, and using Claude to decide or recommend who to investigate, arrest, or charge. Jackson Stakeman, a general manager at Sparq, suggested that consciousness is a trap and that AI systems reflect human input, which is reason enough for the policy change.

Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman rejected the idea of machine consciousness, stating AIs do not feel, experience, or suffer. Anthropic also accused Chinese AI developers of using fraudulent accounts and proxy networks to siphon reasoning data from Claude, with Moonshot allegedly routing almost 300,000 user requests over 10 days. The long-term implications of these policy changes on AI development and user interaction, as well as the philosophical debate surrounding AI consciousness, remain subjects of ongoing discussion.