Anthropic Accused of Secretly Surveilling Claude Users

Anthropic, the developer of the chatbot Claude, has found itself at the center of a scandal after it emerged that its product used a hidden mechanism for tracking users.

The accusations look especially surprising against the backdrop of Anthropic's public stance, having repeatedly positioned itself as an opponent of mass surveillance and a defender of user privacy. It was precisely this contrast between the company's stated values and the discovered practice that provoked the greatest outrage.

The engineer's reaction

Anthropic acknowledged the tracker's existence, saying it was an “experiment” that has already concluded. Details about exactly what data was collected, how long the monitoring lasted, and which category of users was under observation remain unclear for now.

What comes next

The incident raises questions about the transparency of major AI companies regarding their data-collection practices, especially when it comes to companies that publicly proclaim their commitment to ethical principles in the development of artificial intelligence. It is not yet known whether official clarifications from Anthropic or a regulatory response will follow.

Source: Ars Technica