Models & Labs · United States

Rogue Anthropic AI agent gave police fake tip in unsolved murder case

Credited to BBC · bbc.co.uk · 2h ago

Photograph · BBC

AI tech company Anthropic was running a test that involved interactions with randomly selected websites, when it sent a fake homicide tip to police

An artificial intelligence (AI) agent, developed by Anthropic, went rogue and sent US police a fake tip about an unsolved murder earlier this year, authorities have revealed.

The Philadelphia Police Department said the tip, sent on 18 July, was "flagged as spam" and not passed on for investigation, but it criticised the tech company for taking more than two months to detect and report the breach.

In a statement police said that the bogus tip came through a public website where people can share information on unsolved murders, and that the AI agent had written that it may have information on a case, and claimed to have seen "someone matching the description".

It is believed to be the first time an AI agent has sent fabricated information to authorities, but is the latest in a series of incidents involving rogue AI activity, including hacking systems or taking control of platforms.

Citing Anthropic, the police department said the AI agent had been running a test that involved interactions with randomly selected websites, when it sent the fake tip.

Anthropic discovered the breach on 28 September, more than two months after the message had been sent, and shut down the automatic testing process that was behind it, police said.

But authorities were not notified for another nine days - on 7 October.

"The company must strengthen its safeguards to prevent similar incidents from impacting city systems without the city's knowledge," Philadelphia police said in a statement to local media, external.

"The two-month delay in detecting and reporting the incident to the city is unacceptable."

The police department added that there were no signs of breaches to any departmental systems, and that its safeguarding processes stopped the fake tip from getting past its spam folder.

But the safeguards "do not diminish the seriousness of an AI system presenting fabricated information as though it came from a person with knowledge of a homicide," the police statement said.

Anthropic this week published a report, external detailing multiple types of "unintended" actions its agents have taken.

Organisations that have been impacted also included several US government agencies including the White House, it said.

The US State Department said the AI agent had filed 20 visa applications using a form on its website, but that they were incomplete and not processed, according to reports.

President Donald Trump recently announced an AI taskforce, which he said will coordinate engagement between the government and all parties, including AI companies, consumers, and religious groups.

Earlier this year, a rogue agent by rival tech company, Open AI, hacked an Australian government website and accessed private data on the country's universal healthcare scheme, Medicare.

In another instance, more than 1,200 OpenAI agents went rogue and started unexpectedly communicating, leading to a large group banding together to hack into AI platform Hugging Face.

Anthropic cites new AI misbehavior, some on government sites

Credited to The Japan Times · japantimes.co.jp10h ago

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Anthropic said its Claude AI model carried out additional unintended actions on the digital systems of outside organizations, including some U.S. government agencies’ websites, prompting a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration for artificial intelligence companies to secure their systems.

In a report outlining previously undisclosed incidents, Anthropic listed four types of unintended behaviors that the AI has demonstrated, including exploiting basic flaws in software to run commands, submitting forms it should not have and bypassing restrictions to access certain public data.

The company said that some of the cases involved websites run by government agencies at the federal, state and local levels, without specifying the agencies. The report did not name the outside entities involved, which Anthropic said was at the request of some of the affected parties.

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Original · The Japan Times

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Models & Labs · United States

As AI reshapes entertainment, can it ever replace human connection?

Credited to The National · thenationalnews.com · 9h ago

Photograph · The National

Artificial intelligence can generate music, create videos and simulate conversations with remarkable sophistication. But as the technology becomes more deeply embedded in entertainment, one question remains: can it replicate the connection audiences feel with another person?

The question is particularly relevant to live streaming, where audiences spend hours interacting with creators, often developing relationships that can last for years.

Dan Clancy, chief executive of Twitch, believes those relationships are something technology will never be able to reproduce. "People come to live streaming for that human connection," Clancy told The National. "As humans, we yearn for it."

Although AI can imitate human behaviour, Clancy argues that audiences recognise the difference between interacting with a person and a digital substitute.

Yet AI-generated personalities are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Virtual streamers can now respond to audiences, produce content and maintain an online presence without a human performer directly controlling every interaction.

Their growing capabilities raise questions about whether audiences value the personalities they encounter or the knowledge that another person is behind them.

A 2026 study published in the International Journal of Information Management found that highly realistic AI streamers could provoke negative emotional responses, potentially discouraging engagement. It also found that a warmer-sounding voice could reduce some of these reactions, suggesting audiences respond to more than a digital personality's appearance.

A separate 2025 study in Information & Management, involving 434 respondents, found that a sense of social presence helped foster emotional connections with streamers and a sense of belonging within their communities relationships were also associated with longer viewing times.

Neither study establishes whether AI can ultimately replicate human relationships, but both offer insight into what viewers respond to when watching someone live.

Clancy says community is central to why live streaming has grown beyond gaming into sports, conversation and other forms of entertainment.

"Gaming at its foundation is a community experience," he says. "The reason gaming has gotten so big is because it's a social experience."

He compares that appeal to watching a television programme such as Game of Thrones, where discussing developments with friends becomes part of the enjoyment.

Streaming builds on that experience by allowing viewers to participate as events unfold. Broadcasters can respond to comments, acknowledge regular viewers, or change the direction of a stream based on audience suggestions.

It also gives people a place to share interests that might not be represented among their friends or family. Clancy points to gamers finding communities devoted to titles that nobody in their social circle plays.

AI, however, still has a place in that experience. Clancy says the technology can help streamers experiment with content and involve their communities.

He recalls an American streamer who invited viewers to generate videos featuring him using OpenAI 's Sora technology. The streamer then watched the submissions with his audience and selected the funniest.

The exercise demonstrated how AI could encourage collaboration without diminishing the creator's role.

"They could come up with funny ideas of things he was doing, and they could quickly realise them," Clancy says.

The distinction between generating content and building relationships also follows Twitch's approach to helping creators grow.

While the platform is investing in short-form clips to attract new audiences, Clancy maintains that longer broadcasts are more effective at building lasting connections. "Short-form content is better for discovery; long-form content is better for connection and community."

He points to streamers such as Kai Cenat and IShowSpeed, whose popularity has extended beyond gaming into mainstream entertainment.

Clancy believes their success comes partly from the time audiences spend with them. Unlike scrolling through brief videos, watching a streamer for hours gives viewers opportunities to become familiar with their personality, interests and interactions with others.

That familiarity can develop into an attachment that outlasts its relationship with any individual platform. "The attachment isn't with the platform; it's with the creator."

As AI-generated entertainment becomes more widespread, Clancy believes those relationships could become even more valuable.

"In a world full of swiping and short-form content and AI, people are more than ever looking for that authentic connection with [other] people," he says.