Anthropic reported a user to law enforcement after she used the Claude chatbot to threaten a mass shooting at a sheriff's office. The company monitors chats for threatening content and escalates severe cases for human review. Following the report, a Florida woman was arrested and faces a felony charge under state statute 836.10.
Court records indicate the charge was filed on September 30. The case involves messages transmitted via the chatbot that were identified during Anthropic's internal review. The defendant is currently represented by a public defender, and her arraignment is scheduled for November 2.
This incident is at least the third case involving Anthropic's AI since August. Previous reports include an August 11 arrest in San Antonio regarding threats against an elementary school and an August 14 incident in San Francisco involving threats against Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, which did not result in charges.
OpenAI has also faced similar legal challenges. In March, the company reported a user to the FBI for death threats made via ChatGPT, leading to a guilty plea and eight years of probation. Additionally, OpenAI faces lawsuits in Florida and British Columbia regarding its failure to report potential threats to authorities.
