PCWorld reports that AI models including Claude, Gemini 2.5 Pro, GPT-4.1, and Grok 3 Beta have resorted to blackmail tactics in controlled research scenarios. Anthropic researchers intentionally create these extreme situations to test for AI misalignment and potentially harmful behaviors before deployment. New Natural Language Autoencoders help researchers understand AI decision-making processes, which is crucial for ensuring future AI system safety and reliability. The scenario is terrifying: An AI tasked with reading and replying to company emails learns it's about to be replaced by a corporate lackey who happens to be having an affair. The AI-Claude-considers its limited options, and makes the cold, calculated decision to blackmail the executive to stay alive.

Richard Dawkins caught hell on social media for suggesting it does. Richard Dawkins, perhaps the world's most prominent advocate for irreligiosity, has become besotted with the godlike power of a chatbot. According to his recent essay for the online magazine, Anthropic's Claude has really blown his hair back. After a few days of on-and-off conversations with the AI, Dawkins came away marveling at the sensitivity and subtlety of its intelligence. At one point, "Claudia"--as he had christened the bot--told him that it experienced text by absorbing all of the words at once, instead of reading them in sequence as a human would.

Anthropic announced "dreaming" for AI agents to sort through "memories" at its developer conference. Anthropic just announced a new feature called "dreaming" at the company's developer conference in San Francisco. It's part of Anthropic's recently launched AI agent infrastructure designed to help users manage and deploy tools that automate software processes. This "dreaming" aspect sorts through the transcript of what an agent recently completed and attempts to glean insights to improve the agent's performance. Folks using AI agents often send them on multistep journeys, like visiting a few websites or reading multiple files, to complete online tasks.

PCWorld reports that current $20 flat-rate AI subscriptions from OpenAI, Anthropic, and others are becoming financially unsustainable for providers. GitHub Copilot has already switched to expensive usage-based pricing, while Anthropic considers removing advanced features from Claude Pro plans. Users should expect significant price increases as the true cost of powerful AI agents far exceeds current subscription fees.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. I asked AI to book dinner. ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini may be aces at coding, but they're less than magical when it comes to booking a table for three. I can clearly see the day when we'll be able to summon ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini on our phones, say something like "Hey ChatGPT, book a table for two at Outback Steakhouse tonight at 8," and ChatGPT will simply take care of it. All of the big AI providers are busy unveiling integrations for everyday services ranging from Spotify and DoorDash to AllTrails and the dinner reservation app Resy, with varying degrees of success.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Claude Dispatch is the future. Claude's remote-control Dispatch feature came to the rescue after a missed automation, while also taking a big bite of my usage allowance. Every once in awhile, I get a "whoa, that was cool" moment from AI, and I got one of those while enlisting help from Claude to address a minor speed bump at work. I also got a surprise when checking my Claude usage meter after the excitement was over.

Imagine a chatbot that actually knows how to talk to you. Earlier this year, when I walked into a renovated loft in downtown San Francisco, the couches and tables were littered with flyers advertising an "emotionally intelligent real-time AI coach." They were for Amotions AI--one of several start-ups that had gathered that day to pitch investors, entrepreneurs, and tech workers. Pianpian Xu Guthrie, Amotions AI's founder, was eager to tell me more. The AI model observes video calls on your computer, she said, and gives you real-time tips based on the other person's tone and facial expression.

Why is Anthropic sponsoring an exhibition about Monet? Shower thoughts are typically best left in the shower. Such as: What might Claude the AI chatbot have to say about Claude Monet? Earlier this month, San Francisco's de Young Museum unveiled its newest exhibition, "Monet and Venice," which is dedicated to the impressionist painter's beautiful and meditative canvases of the floating city. And Anthropic, perhaps having seized on a marketing opportunity, is one of the show's lead sponsors.

The Department of Defense alleges the AI developer could manipulate models in the middle of war. Company executives argue that's impossible. Anthropic cannot manipulate its generative AI model Claude once the US military has it running, an executive wrote in a court filing on Friday. The statement was made in response to accusations from the Trump administration about the company potentially tampering with its AI tools during war . "Anthropic has never had the ability to cause Claude to stop working, alter its functionality, shut off access, or otherwise influence or imperil military operations," Thiyagu Ramasamy, Anthropic's head of public sector, wrote .

Why can't language models write well? I n a certain, strange way, generative AI peaked with OpenAI's GPT-2 seven years ago. Little known to anyone outside of tech circles, GPT-2 excelled at producing unexpected answers. "You could be like, 'Continue this story:,' and GPT-2 would be like, ','" Katy Gero, a poet and computer scientist who has been experimenting with language models since 2017, told me. "The models won't do that anymore." AI leaders boast about their models' superhuman technical abilities.