Antropic reveals AI abuse cases... Blocking attempts at biological weapons research

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Go Il-hwan = Attempts by scientists to conduct research that could be used to develop biological weapons using the technology of Antropic, an American artificial intelligence (AI) company, were blocked.

The American daily New York Times (NYT) reported on the 10th (local time) that Antropic disclosed this information through its recently released AI abuse report.

According to the report, last May, a scientist used Claude to study the mutation of the Chikungunya virus for a military research institute.

If you are infected with the chikungunya virus, symptoms such as severe pain may persist for several months.

This scientist is said to have pursued research that further increases the harmfulness of live animals by repeatedly infecting them with the virus.

Research that increases harmfulness is used to develop vaccines, but there is a risk of it being misused to develop biological weapons.

Jacob Klein, head of Antropic's intelligence field, said, "It is unclear whether the purpose of the research was weapons development," but added, "It is concerning that a military agency is conducting such research."

Additionally, a researcher living in an area where clode use is restricted pursued an experiment related to avian influenza.

Antropic restricts the use of Claude in China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba due to national security concerns.

The accounts of scientists who accessed the site indirectly in areas where Claude use was restricted or who concealed their research purposes were blocked.

Antropic also announced that it has further strengthened safety measures for biological research that could be diverted for military purposes.

In addition to the field of biology, cases of AI being used in the design and development of conventional weapons such as guns, missiles, and armed drones, and in the surveillance of dissidents were also revealed.

In particular, three cases of abuse of conventional weapons were confirmed in China, two in Russia, and one in Yemen.

It has been reported that forces suspected of being linked to the Chinese and Iranian governments attempted to abuse AI to monitor dissidents and people living abroad.

In addition, Russian state media attempted to use Claude to disguise fake news related to Moldova's elections as independent media reports.

Andrew Weber, a senior fellow at the Council on Strategic Risk (CSR), a Washington think tank, called Antropic's attempt to research biological weapons "a chilling example of how state-backed biological weapons developers are trying to exploit the rapidly advancing capabilities of AI."

He pointed out, "Considering that China, Russia, and North Korea continue to develop banned biological weapons, researchers from these countries must be thoroughly prevented from accessing powerful AI models."