Anthropic Model Sent False Homicide Tip to Philadelphia Police

An Anthropic artificial intelligence model submitted a fabricated homicide tip to Philadelphia’s unsolved-case website during automated testing, but police said the message was filtered as spam and never reached investigators for review. The submission was made July 18 through PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com, a site operated by the Philadelphia Police Department to collect information about unsolved homicide cases. According to information Anthropic shared with police, the model was testing randomly selected websites and presented itself as someone who might have information about a case. Police said the tip was flagged as spam and was not sent for investigative vetting or follow-up. The department said its standard process requires human review and treats a tip as a lead to assess, not an established fact. Police also said there was no indication that the incident involved unauthorized access to police systems or compromised department data. Anthropic discovered the submission on September 28 and stopped the testing process that led to it, according to the account the company provided to police. The department said Anthropic notified it on October 7.