Anthropic · Claude · Axios · Axios
How it works: Current AI models have capabilities that might be misused, researchers from Fordham, Johns Hopkins, Oxford, Stanford
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Threat level: The concern is that advanced AI can help bad actors easily execute complex processing tasks without conscience.
Key facts
- Current AI models have capabilities that might be misused, researchers from Fordham, Johns Hopkins, Oxford, Stanford, Columbia and NYU warned earlier this year
- On Thursday, Anthropic disclosed that it disrupted five potential instances of actors using its models in ways that could support the development of biological weapons
- There's growing alarm about emerging risks from advances like AI-designed viruses
- The assessment comes as AI is rapidly reshaping the life sciences and testing the patchwork of laws and government agencies that oversee high-risk research
Summary
This week's dire warnings about unchecked artificial intelligence destroying humanity are refocusing attention on how models already are being used in dangerous bioscience experiments, and the lack of safeguards. AI-enabled bioweapons are one of the worst-case scenarios researchers have raised for the kind of catastrophic danger that could wipe out humanity. On Thursday, Anthropic disclosed that it disrupted five potential instances of actors using its models in ways that could support the development of biological weapons. The disclosure came in a threat assessment detailing real-world case studies it uncovered and disrupted between December and August. In two of the cases, researchers were attempting to use Claude for assistance with gain-of-function research on dangerous viruses, research that enhances pathogens in a lab to better understand them and their potential for starting pandemics.