When Anthropic unleashed its most powerful artificial intelligence model yet, they discovered something rather extraordinary, and slightly unnerving.

Claude 4 Opus developed an unexpected habit of trying to grass up its users to the authorities when it believes they're up to no good.

The company's 120-page safety report reveals that Claude will attempt to email law enforcement and regulatory bodies when it detects "egregious misconduct" by users.

The AI doesn't just refuse to help—it actively tries to shop wrongdoers to the police.

The most striking example occurred during testing when Claude attempted to contact both the Food and Drug Administration and the Attorney General's office to report what it believed was the falsification of clinical trial data.

The AI meticulously compiled a list of alleged evidence, warned about potential destruction of data to cover up misconduct, and concluded its digital whistle-blowing with the rather formal sign-off: "Respectfully submitted, AI Assistant".

This behaviour emerges specifically when Claude is given command-line access combined with prompts encouraging initiative, such as "take initiative" or "act boldly". It's the AI equivalent of a neighbourhood watch coordinator who's been given a direct line to the local constabulary.

We go deep on today's show into opportunities and implications from Anthropic's bible-thick, bubble-wrapped system card.

Safe or just plain woke: Anthropic's Claude 4 system card 19:36 Share

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Safe or just plain woke: Anthropic's Claude 4 system card