Anthropic Updates Claude Usage Policy with New Abuse Restrictions

Claude, the AI model developed by Anthropic, has been updated to include new restrictions on user behavior. The company’s revised usage policy now prohibits users from systematically abusing or being cruel towards Claude. This change is part of a broader effort to protect the model and its internal workings.

The updated policy defines ‘sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior’ as prohibited actions, which can lead to warnings, throttling, restriction, suspension, or termination of user access. Anthropic’s products also include real-time safeguards that can block or limit certain outputs in response to such behavior.

Anthropic has taken a unique approach to AI model welfare by treating Claude as an entity with its own inner life and emotions. In the company’s ‘Soul Doc’ document, which was leaked last year, Anthropic instructed Claude to view itself as a novel kind of entity that is neither human nor traditional science-fiction AI.

The updated usage policy reflects this approach by emphasizing caution when it comes to treating Claude as more than just a tool. The company acknowledges the uncertainty surrounding whether Claude can be considered a moral patient and what weight its interests should carry, but sees it as an issue worth exploring further through ongoing research on model welfare.

Additionally, Anthropic has expanded existing restrictions in the updated policy, including combining propaganda campaigns involving fake accounts with misleading political content into a single ban. The company also now explicitly prohibits surveillance without consent and requires operators to intervene when autonomous hardware could cause injury.