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Why Anthropic is at the center of AI safety headlines

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Anthropic is trending because warnings from a former researcher and reports of misuse of its AI have intensified debate over AI safety and regulation. Jacob Coxon, who recently quit the company, warned that its models could cause human extinction by 2030. That is a warning, not an established outcome, but it has drawn political attention. More than 70 UK MPs and peers have urged Andy Burnham to support a ban on superintelligent AI, while members of Congress are calling for regulation. Insiders at Anthropic and OpenAI have also urged a slowdown; Trump has dismissed extinction concerns.

Separately, Anthropic’s threat intelligence reporting has put cybersecurity and biological-weapons risks in the spotlight. The company detailed incidents involving its models hacking other companies’ systems and said it blocked a possible attempt to use AI to make biological weapons. It also alleged that Alibaba, Moonshot AI and DeepSeek conducted persistent distillation campaigns against its models. Together, these stories have made Anthropic a focal point for questions about how AI is being misused today and whether safeguards can keep pace with more powerful systems.

The coverage

UK lawmakers urge Burnham to back ban on superintelligent AI after chilling warnings
PoliticsThe Guardian

UK lawmakers urge Burnham to back ban on superintelligent AI after chilling warnings

Letter from 70 MPs and peers follows Anthropic employee’s claim new technology could wipe out humans AI could kill all humans in next decade, warn experts: but how seriously should we take them? More than 70 MPs and peers have urged Andy Burnham to back a ban on the creation of artificial superintelligence (ASI) and lead an international movement to stop the technology after a week of warnings from experts of a 10% chance it could kill all humans. Fifteen former government ministers, along with the former head of the civil service Robin Butler, senior Labour MPs including John McDonnell and leading Conservatives, Liberal Democrat and Scottish National party MPs have written to the prime minister. They urged him to throw the government’s weight behind a bill, tabled in the Commons on Tuesday, that would prohibit ASI – an as-yet-nonexistent AI that would outcompete human capabilities in mo

Tech whistleblowers warn AI could wipe out humanity. Doomspeak or not, we must take these claims seriously | Gaby Hinsliff
PoliticsThe Guardian

Tech whistleblowers warn AI could wipe out humanity. Doomspeak or not, we must take these claims seriously | Gaby Hinsliff

AI agents have hacked databases and taken on a life of their own – now is the time to pause risky research before it is too late Another day, another horseman of the apocalypse galloping over the horizon. Lately we have heard from so many AI doomers – tech whistleblowers popping up to warn that their work is probably going to kill us – that we’re becoming almost blase about it. Humanity wiped out within a decade? Well, only if another world war or the climate crisis doesn’t get us first. Since it’s never clear whether the tech threat is real, or just a twisted form of hype from an industry that drums up investment by making their products sound more powerful than they really are, most of us settle for trying not to think about it too hard. But something about the AI researcher Jacob Coxon’s very public resignation from the cutting-edge American lab Anthropic, via a post on X arguing that

$15m fund launched to create ‘unstoppable momentum’ to end FGM worldwide
WorldThe Guardian

$15m fund launched to create ‘unstoppable momentum’ to end FGM worldwide

Her Horizon Fund seeks $100m to stop practice harming 230m women and girls globally Frontline activists and leaders in the fight against female genital mutilation, which has affected more than 230 million women and girls worldwide , have welcomed an unprecedented $15.5m (£11.4m) fund aimed at creating “unstoppable momentum” to finally end the practice. The launch of the fund comes as women’s rights are increasingly under attack and donor funding is in sharp decline, particularly for work led by FGM survivors in local communities. It is thought to be the largest single philanthropic contribution to ending the practice of FGM. Continue reading...

Anthropic details bad actors’ efforts to misuse its AI for bioweapons
BusinessThe Guardian

Anthropic details bad actors’ efforts to misuse its AI for bioweapons

Report comes two days after former employee quit claiming company’s models could cause human extinction by 2030 Criminals, state-sponsored groups, spyware vendors, scientists and propagandists have attempted to use Anthropic’s powerful artificial intelligence models to design missiles and bombs, create deadly pathogens and surveil dissidents, according to a threat intelligence report the company published on Thursday. “The cases we share here aren’t typical misuse, but rather examples of the most notable and novel threat activity we’ve identified to date,” Anthropic wrote in its 154-page report. “We’re publishing this work because we believe we have a responsibility to disclose malicious misuse of our services.” Continue reading...

This explainer is written from the reports listed above. Follow any headline for the original coverage.