Anthropic bans cruel treatment of Claude; critics warn of humanizing AI
AlexTensor · x · 2026-10-14
Anthropic's updated usage policy prohibits "sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior" toward its models, letting Claude end conversations with users who are repeatedly cruel without purpose. An UnHerd piece argues the policy risks humanizing AI: indulging moral concern for software lacking subjective experience could lead users to over-trust AI empathy, neglect human relationships, and eventually push toward legal personhood for models. Anthropic has run a "model welfare" research program since April 2025.
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