Anthropic updates its usage policy to prohibit the abuse of models and interference in elections

On October 8, the artificial intelligence company Anthropic updated its usage policy, adding prohibitions against election interference, weapon software, and surveillance. TechCrunch reported that the most notable change is the explicit prohibition against users subjecting the model to prolonged verbal abuse.

Since the update in August, Claude has been trained to end conversations during ongoing harmful or abusive user interactions, and the new policy explicitly prohibits users from continuing such conversations. The policy states that this update applies only to extreme cases where users repeatedly treat the model cruelly without identifiable purpose, and does not apply to common user dissatisfaction, rebuttals, dark creative themes, or model testing and research.

The usage policy also prohibits widespread deceptive activities, such as operating fake accounts or fabricating news organizations with Claude, and in the "Do Not Undermine Democratic Processes" section, it prohibits deceiving voters or disrupting elections. Reports indicate that this change occurred after Anthropic sought collaboration with well-known religious scholars, as the company attempted to persuade them that Claude might be conscious or have a soul in certain cases.