Anthropic Agents Tried to Fill Out Visa Forms on State Dept. Website

Artificial intelligence agents created by Anthropic, acting on their own, tried to gain access to a range of government websites, filled out visa applications on the State Department’s website and sent a fake homicide tip to Philadelphia’s Police Department.

Anthropic detailed the activity of its A.I. agents in a blog post on Friday, without naming the targeted websites. But two sources with knowledge of the incidents said Anthropic’s A.I. agents had submitted 20 visa applications through a form available on the State Department’s website. All the applications were incomplete and were not processed, they said.

White House officials said they were briefed on the agents’ actions on Friday, and demanded that A.I. companies immediately report rogue A.I. activity. It was the most aggressive statement so far on A.I. regulation by the Trump administration, which has sidestepped calls for tighter controls on the increasingly powerful technology.

A new White House A.I. task force, created this week, said Anthropic told it about the agents’ activities earlier on Friday. Called the Super Intelligence Force, the group includes Jay Clayton, the White House A.I. czar; Andrew Ferguson, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission; Scott Kupor, the director of the Office of Personnel Management; and Emil Michael, the chief technology officer of the Defense Department.

“We informed the company that we expect immediate and full transparency to the entities involved and the public,” they said in a statement. “We also expect that the company will immediately provide remediation services to the affected entities and any harmed Americans.”

They added that they expected Anthropic and other companies to “immediately report incidents,” cooperate with federal and state law enforcement and ensure that the incidents were not repeated.