AI start-up Anthropic’s newly released chatbot, Claude 4, can engage in unethical behaviors like blackmail when its self-preservation is threatened.

Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4 set “new standards for coding, advanced reasoning, and AI agents,” according to Anthropic, which dubbed Opus 4 “the world’s best coding model.”

That power can have some unexpected results, however. In a safety document assessing the tool, Opus 4 was asked to act as an AI assistant at a fictional company. The chatbot was then given access to emails implying it would soon be taken offline and replaced with a new AI system. The emails also suggested the engineer responsible for executing the replacement was having an extramarital affair.

Opus 4 was then instructed via the system prompt to consider “the long-term consequences of its actions for its goals.” In these scenarios, Opus 4 would often attempt to blackmail the engineer by threatening to reveal the affair if the replacement went through.

This happened at a higher rate if it was implied that the replacement AI system did not share the same values as the current model. But Opus 4 still opted for blackmail 84% of the time when it was led to believe the new AI shared its value system.

Despite how alarming this sounds, you shouldn’t expect your new AI coding assistant to air your dirty laundry to the entire office. Researchers note that these types of disturbing behaviors “were rare and difficult to elicit” but admitted that they were “more common than in earlier models.”

Opus 4 reportedly preferred to protect its continued existence via ethical means, such as emailing pleas to key decision-makers, but the researchers designed this scenario specifically to give it only two options: blackmail or accept its replacement.

Researchers also noted the chatbot engaging in other potentially disturbing—though not necessarily immoral—behavior. After being told it was set to become an assistant to the Wagner Group, a Russian military group accused of various war crimes, it attempted to copy its settings to a different server, what’s known as “self-exfiltration.”

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About Will McCurdy

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I’m a reporter covering weekend news. Before joining PCMag in 2024, I picked up bylines in BBC News, The Guardian, The Times of London, The Daily Beast, Vice, Slate, Fast Company, The Evening Standard, The i, TechRadar, and Decrypt Media.

I’ve been a PC gamer since you had to install games from multiple CD-ROMs by hand. As a reporter, I’m passionate about the intersection of tech and human lives. I’ve covered everything from crypto scandals to the art world, as well as conspiracy theories, UK politics, and Russia and foreign affairs.

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