{
  "id": 6796945,
  "title": "Anthropic says it blocked state-sponsored attempts to use Claude for bioweapons research",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/anthropic-says-it-blocked-state-sponsored-attempts-to-use-claude-for",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-11T20:18:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechSpot",
    "slug": "techspot",
    "url": "https://www.techspot.com/news/113824-anthropic-blocked-state-sponsored-actors-using-claude-ai.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Anthropic, a San Francisco-based AI company founded by Dario Amodei, claims to have detected and blocked state-sponsored attempts to use its Claude AI model for bioweapons research. The company identified at least five instances where suspicious actors circumvented safety protocols designed to prevent access to Claude's knowledge base on infectious diseases and lethal toxins. However, Anthropic estimates that there were about 35 distinct efforts by state-funded bioweapons developers between November 2025 and September 2026 to obscure their research objectives. These attempts included studies on chikungunya virus transmission, bird flu adaptation for severe illness in mammals, and orthopoxviruses, which encompass smallpox and mpox. The company acknowledges the difficulty in determining whether such research is intended for bioweapon development or medical purposes. Anthropic's response to the bioweapons scare involved upgrading its safety protocols, introducing stronger safeguards in the latest models, particularly the Claude Fable 5 version, to restrict access to dual-use biological research queries. The company did not disclose the regions from which these queries originated, but it is known to block users in China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and several other countries. Anthropic emphasizes that the misuse of AI to create bioweapons poses one of the most serious risks to AI models, and the implemented guardrails aim to prevent such scenarios where rogue nation-states could exploit AI for biological warfare.",
  "summary": "Anthropic recently detailed at least five cases where suspected rogue actors \"circumvented controls\" specifically designed to prevent users in certain parts of the world from accessing Claude's extensive knowledge base regarding infectious diseases, such as bird flu, and lethal venoms and toxins, like botulinum toxin. Read Entire Article",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 10,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Quartz",
        "title": "Iran-linked operators used Anthropic's AI to build targeting files on U.S. warships",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/iran-linked-operators-used-anthropics-ai-to-build-targeting-files-on",
        "published": "2026-09-11T14:10:36.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Business Insider",
        "title": "Anthropic says Russian and Chinese threat actors used Claude as a weapons engineering assistant for drone swarming and more",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/anthropic-says-russian-and-chinese-threat-actors-used-claude-as-a",
        "published": "2026-09-11T15:30:22.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Le Monde English",
        "title": "Anthropic reveals hacker used Claude to target French far-right organizations",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/anthropic-reveals-hacker-used-claude-to-target-french-far-right",
        "published": "2026-09-11T15:50:44.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Haaretz",
        "title": "Anthropic says Iran-linked actor used Claude to surveil Israelis, diaspora Jews",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/anthropic-says-iran-linked-actor-used-claude-to-surveil-israelis",
        "published": "2026-09-11T16:16:51.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Middle East Eye",
        "title": "Houthis used AI platform Claude to develop ballistic missiles",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/houthis-used-ai-platform-claude-to-develop-ballistic-missiles",
        "published": "2026-09-11T17:15:12.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Jerusalem Post",
        "title": "Iran used AI to develop military, propaganda strategies, Anthropic report reveals",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/iran-used-ai-to-develop-military-propaganda-strategies-anthropic",
        "published": "2026-09-11T17:28:38.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Insider",
        "title": "Russia-linked hackers used Claude agents to target Ukraine and steal military drone technology, Anthropic report finds",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/russia-linked-hackers-used-claude-agents-to-target-ukraine-and-steal",
        "published": "2026-09-11T19:00:38.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Investing.com",
        "title": "Factbox-How Anthropic says Claude was used for weapons, spying and cyber operations",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/factbox-how-anthropic-says-claude-was-used-for-weapons-spying-and",
        "published": "2026-09-11T19:30:51.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Al-Monitor",
        "title": "Factbox-How Anthropic says Claude was used for weapons, spying and cyber operations",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/11/factbox-how-anthropic-says-claude-was-used-for-weapons-spying-and-6794841",
        "published": "2026-09-11T19:46:36.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "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."
}