Artificial intelligence company Anthropic has said that it blocked five attempts to use its AI models for activities that could potentially contribute to the development of biological weapons.
The cases involved research related to chikungunya, avian influenza and smallpox, the company said in a report on the misuse of its AI systems.
In one case, a researcher affiliated with an unidentified military institution used Anthropic’s Claude chatbot while preparing a research proposal involving chikungunya, a mosquito-borne virus.
Although the research could have legitimate purposes, including vaccine development, the researcher also sought assistance that raised concerns about creating more dangerous variants of the virus.
Other cases involved efforts to use AI to explore ways of increasing the transmissibility of avian influenza and to gather information about animal toxins that could potentially be used in weapons.
Beyond biological research, the report identified other potentially malicious applications of AI, including the development of conventional weapons and cyberattacks.
Anthropic cautioned that identifying potentially dangerous capabilities does not establish that users intended to develop biological weapons or would have succeeded in doing so.
Anthropic released the report after Jacob Coxon, one of its researchers, announced he was resigning amid fears the company and its chief rival OpenAI “are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.”
Coxon warned that some of his colleagues now believe AI could threaten human life by the end of the decade.
