Anthropic says it has detected and stopped several attempts to misuse its artificial intelligence technology in ways that could potentially assist the development of biological weapons.
The AI company disclosed the findings in its latest threat intelligence report, adding to growing concerns among researchers and technology experts about the potential dangers posed by increasingly powerful AI systems.
The warnings have also sparked calls for stronger regulation and limits on advanced AI development. US Senator Bernie Sanders has called for a pause on the development of advanced AI and a ban on artificial superintelligence.
President Donald Trump, however, has dismissed some of the concerns surrounding AI, saying on Thursday that he was worried “if we don’t win AI, we’re going to be put in a very bad position”.
Anthropic published its latest threat intelligence report on Thursday, joining other major AI companies that regularly release reports on the misuse of their technologies.
Google, for example, reported on Tuesday that someone had attempted to use its Gemini AI system to obtain a “complete, step-by-step technical guide for synthesizing weaponised biological agents”.
AI Misuse Spans Cybercrime and Surveillance
Anthropic said its Claude AI model was also used by individuals connected to a Russia-based cyber espionage operation and an Iranian propaganda organisation.
The company said the cases it uncovered over the past eight months covered a wide range of activities, including fake dating applications, hotel Wi-Fi scams and surveillance systems designed to identify dissidents.
Anthropic also accused Chinese AI companies of attempting to replicate Claude’s capabilities.
The report detailed suspected misuse involving state-sponsored groups, criminals, spyware companies, propaganda organisations and politically motivated individuals.
According to Anthropic, “Malicious use” of its Claude Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus models was disrupted between December 2025 and August 2026.
The company said none of the cases involved its Claude Fable or more powerful Mythos-class models, apart from one instance involving distillation — a process in which smaller AI systems are trained using larger and more expensive models.
Anthropic Flags Biological Weapons Concerns
Alongside cyberattacks, influence campaigns, surveillance, scams and fraud, Anthropic said it had identified and blocked scientists who were using its AI technology in ways that could potentially contribute to biological weapons development.
The report highlighted “five case studies of actors using our models in ways that could support biological weapons development”.
Anthropic described biological misuse as “one of the most serious risks of frontier AI model” and warned that without appropriate safeguards, such capabilities “could have catastrophic consequences”.
At the same time, the company acknowledged the difficulty of distinguishing harmful research from legitimate scientific work.
“The same information that can be used to develop a biological weapon could also be used to develop, for example, a vaccine or a cure for a disease,” Anthropic said.
Jacob Klein, Anthropic’s head of threat intelligence, told the New York Times that the issue was “an incredibly nuanced situation”.
“You are not seeing someone in a comic book kind of way say, ‘Hey, I want to build a biological weapon to kill everybody,'” he said.
AI Also Used in Conventional Weapons Development
Anthropic’s report identified six additional cases in which Claude was allegedly used “to develop software for conventional weapons, including firearms, missiles, armed drones, bombs, and other munitions, as well as the targeting and control systems that operate them”.
The company also reported a growing use of its technology by cybercriminals and state-backed hacking groups.
Among those mentioned were the hacking group ShinyHunters and laboratories based in China.
Anthropic also said
