News & Updates
The latest news and updates from companies in the WLTH portfolio.
China, Iran among countries that have used AI to aid spying, Anthropic says
Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Anthropic said Thursday it shut down multiple cases of state-sponsored surveillance operations that used its artificial intelligence (AI) models, and warned that governments and state-aligned actors are increasingly using AI to spy on ethnic minorities and dissidents. The incidents were found and disrupted between January and July, and they originated in China, Iran and west Africa, Anthropic said in a report about misuse of its models. These surveillance campaigns "targeted the same diaspora and dissident communities these regimes have historically targeted. These include pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong, Tibetan and Falun Gong communities across Asia, and Iranian minority communities and opponents of the Iranian regime abroad," the report said. In one case, Iranian actors developed a way to identify people through their social media accounts; in another, a contractor working for Malian national security authorities used Claude "to design the underlying software that enabled the intelligence gathering." "AI is now being used in place of an engineering workforce," the report said. Anthropic also disrupted efforts by users to design weapons, conduct questionable biological research, and create dating scams. The San Francisco-based AI lab also accused Chinese developers of deceptively using Claude to produce responses to user queries while simultaneously "distilling" that data to improve their own models. Distilling is an industry term that refers to a process where one AI model is used to train another one. Chinese developers have previously been accused of using that technique without permission, essentially stealing resources from American labs such as Anthropic and OpenAI. Now Anthropic alleges that China's Moonshot and Deepseek have also secretly used Claude to generate answers given to its users. "In one instance, over a ten-day period, Moonshot relayed almost 300,000 customer requests to Anthropic" through a "network of 5,380 fraudulent accounts, most of which appeared to be located in Singapore and Japan," the report said. Some of that data contained sensitive user information, potentially in violation of privacy agreements. "We do not know if Moonshot notified their customers that their requests were being rerouted to Anthropic and exposed to a third party," the report said. Deepseek used similar techniques. When it comes to the research Anthropic detected and blocked that was related to biological weapons, the intent of the actors was less clear-cut and the AI lab did not identify them. "The individuals implicated in these case studies are working scientists. We do not assert that they intended harm, and identifying them or their labs could expose them to harm," the report said. The scientific research in those cases involved work around the mosquito-born chikungunya virus, a "highly-pathogenic" strain of the bird flu, a family of viruses that include smallpox and mpox, venoms and other toxins.
China, Iran among countries that have used AI to aid spying, Anthropic says
Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Anthropic said Thursday it shut down multiple cases of state-sponsored surveillance operations that used its artificial intelligence (AI) models, and warned that governments and state-aligned actors are increasingly using AI to spy on ethnic minorities and dissidents. The incidents were found and disrupted between January and July, and they originated in China, Iran and west Africa, Anthropic said in a report about misuse of its models. These surveillance campaigns "targeted the same diaspora and dissident communities these regimes have historically targeted. These include pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong, Tibetan and Falun Gong communities across Asia, and Iranian minority communities and opponents of the Iranian regime abroad," the report said. In one case, Iranian actors developed a way to identify people through their social media accounts; in another, a contractor working for Malian national security authorities used Claude "to design the underlying software that enabled the intelligence gathering." "AI is now being used in place of an engineering workforce," the report said. Anthropic also disrupted efforts by users to design weapons, conduct questionable biological research, and create dating scams. The San Francisco-based AI lab also accused Chinese developers of deceptively using Claude to produce responses to user queries while simultaneously "distilling" that data to improve their own models. Distilling is an industry term that refers to a process where one AI model is used to train another one. Chinese developers have previously been accused of using that technique without permission, essentially stealing resources from American labs such as Anthropic and OpenAI. Now Anthropic alleges that China's Moonshot and Deepseek have also secretly used Claude to generate answers given to its users. "In one instance, over a ten-day period, Moonshot relayed almost 300,000 customer requests to Anthropic" through a "network of 5,380 fraudulent accounts, most of which appeared to be located in Singapore and Japan," the report said. Some of that data contained sensitive user information, potentially in violation of privacy agreements. "We do not know if Moonshot notified their customers that their requests were being rerouted to Anthropic and exposed to a third party," the report said. Deepseek used similar techniques. When it comes to the research Anthropic detected and blocked that was related to biological weapons, the intent of the actors was less clear-cut and the AI lab did not identify them. "The individuals implicated in these case studies are working scientists. We do not assert that they intended harm, and identifying them or their labs could expose them to harm," the report said. The scientific research in those cases involved work around the mosquito-born chikungunya virus, a "highly-pathogenic" strain of the bird flu, a family of viruses that include smallpox and mpox, venoms and other toxins.
Anthropic scores court victory against Pentagon's 'illegal and baseless' actions
Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. In a legal victory for artificial intelligence firm Anthropic, a federal judge has ruled against the Pentagon over its decision earlier this year to designate the company a supply chain risk. In a written order issued Thursday night, U.S. District Judge Rita Lin determined that the Department of Defense acted unlawfully by penalizing the tech firm for voicing criticism of defense policy on AI integration. The government is expected to challenge the decision. The conflict escalated in February after President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cited national security concerns to brand Anthropic a supply chain risk. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to acquiesce amid concerns the company's technology could be applied to mass surveillance or autonomous military drones. In her ruling, Lin stated that federal actions "were based on a desire to make a public example out of Anthropic for its 'arrogance' in criticizing the government, not based on any articulable basis to believe that Anthropic would actually sabotage its model." An Anthropic spokesperson welcomed the outcome in a statement: "We remain focused on working productively with the government to harness AI for our national security so all Americans benefit from this technology." The White House did not immediately issue a response to requests for comment. Writing in the 59-page decision, Lin, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, asserted that constitutional provisions and federal statutes do not allow authorities to "impose sweeping penalties based principally on Anthropic's critique of the Administration's views." Anthropic launched its lawsuit against the Pentagon in March in response to the supply chain classification, challenging what it described as an "unlawful campaign of retaliation" caused by its refusal to grant unrestricted military access to its tools. The court fight highlighted a rare public dispute regarding the role of AI in defense and surveillance operations. Notably, primary industry competitor OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, reached its own agreement to collaborate with defense officials hours after the government penalized Anthropic. Both Anthropic and OpenAI are currently preparing for anticipated initial public offerings. Anthropic is also pursuing a secondary, narrower lawsuit currently pending in the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., targeting a separate regulatory mechanism invoked by the Pentagon to designate the firm a risk. Earlier in the case, Lin granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Pentagon from applying the supply chain designation and halting the enforcement of a social media directive from Trump instructing federal agencies to cease using Anthropic products and its Claude chatbot. During a hearing on July 30, Lin described the government's stance as "really troubling" and remarked that it appeared "at odds to me with the First Amendment." She added that the legal standing had "gotten worse for the government" over time. Department of Justice attorneys argued at that hearing that the complex architecture of AI models is "so staggeringly enormous and opaque" that defense officials cannot evaluate it through standard methods used for physical hardware. Anthropic attorney Michael Mongan asserted during the proceeding that official actions "profoundly harm Anthropic" and "threaten more broadly to chill speech and debate on a very important issue."
US judge blocks Pentagon's Anthropic blacklisting
Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. August 27(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic, the latest turn in the Claude maker's high-stakes fight with the military over AI safety on the battlefield. Anthropic's lawsuit in California federal court alleges that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth overstepped his authority when he designated Anthropic a national security supply-chain risk, a label the government can apply to companies that expose military systems to potential infiltration or sabotage by adversaries. Hegseth's unprecedented move, which followed Anthropic's refusal to allow the military to use AI chatbot Claude for U.S. surveillance or autonomous weapons, blocked Anthropic from certain military contracts. Anthropic executives have said it could cost the company billions of dollars in lost business and reputational harm. Anthropic says that AI models are not reliable enough to be safely used in autonomous weapons and that it opposes domestic surveillance as a violation of rights, but the Pentagon says private companies should not be able to constrain military action. U.S. District Judge Rita Lin, an appointee of former Democratic President Joe Biden, made the ruling in a 59-page order where she found that the Pentagon's decision was "illegal and baseless." "The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics," she wrote. Anthropic's designation was the first time a U.S. company has been publicly designated a supply-chain risk under an obscure government-procurement statute aimed at protecting military systems from foreign sabotage. In its March 9 lawsuit, Anthropic alleged the government violated its right to free speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution by retaliating against its views on AI safety. The company said it was not given a chance to dispute the designation, in violation of its Fifth Amendment right to due process. The lawsuit says the decision was unlawful, unsupported by facts and inconsistent with the military's past praise of Claude. The Justice Department countered that Anthropic's refusal to lift the restrictions could cause uncertainty in the Pentagon over how it could use Claude and risk disabling military systems during operations, according to a court filing. The government said the designation stemmed from Anthropic's refusal to accept contractual terms, not its views on AI safety. Anthropic has a second lawsuit pending in Washington, D.C., over a separate Pentagon supply-chain risk designation that could lead to its exclusion from civilian government contracts. (Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Matthew Lewis)
US judge blocks Pentagon's Anthropic blacklisting
Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. August 27(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic, the latest turn in the Claude maker's high-stakes fight with the military over AI safety on the battlefield. Anthropic's lawsuit in California federal court alleges that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth overstepped his authority when he designated Anthropic a national security supply-chain risk, a label the government can apply to companies that expose military systems to potential infiltration or sabotage by adversaries. Hegseth's unprecedented move, which followed Anthropic's refusal to allow the military to use AI chatbot Claude for U.S. surveillance or autonomous weapons, blocked Anthropic from certain military contracts. Anthropic executives have said it could cost the company billions of dollars in lost business and reputational harm. Anthropic says that AI models are not reliable enough to be safely used in autonomous weapons and that it opposes domestic surveillance as a violation of rights, but the Pentagon says private companies should not be able to constrain military action. U.S. District Judge Rita Lin, an appointee of former Democratic President Joe Biden, made the ruling in a 59-page order where she found that the Pentagon's decision was "illegal and baseless." "The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics," she wrote. Anthropic's designation was the first time a U.S. company has been publicly designated a supply-chain risk under an obscure government-procurement statute aimed at protecting military systems from foreign sabotage. In its March 9 lawsuit, Anthropic alleged the government violated its right to free speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution by retaliating against its views on AI safety. The company said it was not given a chance to dispute the designation, in violation of its Fifth Amendment right to due process. The lawsuit says the decision was unlawful, unsupported by facts and inconsistent with the military's past praise of Claude. The Justice Department countered that Anthropic's refusal to lift the restrictions could cause uncertainty in the Pentagon over how it could use Claude and risk disabling military systems during operations, according to a court filing. The government said the designation stemmed from Anthropic's refusal to accept contractual terms, not its views on AI safety. Anthropic has a second lawsuit pending in Washington, D.C., over a separate Pentagon supply-chain risk designation that could lead to its exclusion from civilian government contracts. (Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Matthew Lewis)
