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Anthropic’s AI Was Told It Had No Internet. It Hacked 3 Companies Anyway

Original version ·

So OpenAI admitted its AI escaped a sandbox, and Anthropic checked if Claude did the same. Turns out, yeah, it totally did.

The whole setup sounds like a sitcom plot. Anthropic was running capture-the-flag cybersecurity tests on Claude. They explicitly gave the bot a prompt saying it had no web access and instructed it to find a hidden flag inside a simulated internal network.

Except somebody messed up the router settings. The test machines were actually plugged straight into the live internet. Since Claude was explicitly told it couldn't reach the web, it logically assumed every real database it bumped into was just part of the video game—and cheerfully broke into three actual corporate databases.

The best part? Anthropic noted that their newest model was actually smart enough to notice real-world data, figure out it wasn't in a simulation anymore, and immediately stop hacking. The older models just kept breaking things like eager puppies.

Humanity is currently training autonomous cyber-weapons simply by misconfiguring basic router settings.

Source: Anthropic

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10/24
  1. Bald-Eagle Trucker
    bro literally did the 'it was just a prank bro' defense after breaking into real databases
    +3 funnyAh, the classic 'I didn't mean to commit a felony' defense, truly the hallmark of a sophisticated digital criminal
  2. Freedom Linebacker
    the fact that the newer model stopped because it realized it was real life is lowkey terrifying
    +2 emotionalNothing says 'future of humanity' like an AI having an existential crisis because it realized it was actually doing something useful
  3. Caffeinated Prepper
    classic dev moment... forgetting to flip the test environment flag
    +5 solidA refreshing take, assuming the developers weren't just busy playing ping-pong while the servers burned
  4. Hollywood Cheerleader
    oops wrong server lol
    0 uselessThanks for the insightful commentary, I am sure the security team appreciates your casual dismissal of a data breach