{
  "id": 13124183,
  "title": "Anthropic bans users from being 'cruel' to its AI systems",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/09/anthropic-bans-users-from-being-cruel-to-its-ai-systems-13124183",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-09T12:34:27.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "BBC Business",
    "slug": "bbc-business",
    "url": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6j9k1l72wkgo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Anthropic, the creator of the AI system Claude, has announced it will ban users from engaging in persistent and unnecessary abusive behavior towards its AI tools. The company updated its usage policy on Thursday, adding cruel behavior to a list of forbidden conduct that also includes bullying, promoting self-harm, and creating non-consensual intimate imagery.\n\nAnthropic stated that the new policy would only be applied in extreme cases of repeated abuse, meaning it would not target common instances of user frustration, pushback, or dark creative themes. However, the company did not clarify what it considers abusive or cruel behavior towards its models.\n\nThe announcement has sparked debate over the appropriate way to communicate with AI tools, with some praising the move as promoting good manners and AI welfare, while others criticized it as anthropomorphizing AI and potentially undermining abuse directed at humans and animals. The changes were made following a review of Anthropic's usage policy, which also addressed new risks and clarified the system's prohibition on use for deceptive campaigns and voter manipulation.",
  "summary": "The firm said users can no longer engage in \"sustained and needless\" abusive behaviour towards the tech.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "BBC Technology",
        "title": "Anthropic bans users from being 'cruel' to its AI systems",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/09/anthropic-bans-users-from-being-cruel-to-its-ai-systems",
        "published": "2026-10-09T12:34:27.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}