Anthropic follows a policy that could have “sabotaged” AI researchers using Claude

Anthropic is backing down on a policy that would have secretly prevented competitors from using its new AI model, Claude Fable 5, to develop other AI models. The company changed course after the move sparked significant backlash from the AI ​​research community.

“We are changing Fable 5’s safeguards for the groundbreaking LLM development to make it visible,” Anthropic said in a statement to WIRED. “We made the wrong compromise and apologize for not finding the right balance.”

Earlier this week, Anthropic released Claude Fable 5, a version of its latest AI model with additional security guardrails designed to prevent abuse. Some of the protections Anthropic opted for were not surprising: The company said it would redirect users who asked questions about cybersecurity, biology or chemistry to a less powerful AI model to reduce the likelihood that someone would use the advanced AI to carry out a cyberattack or build a bioweapon.

But for researchers trying to use Claude Fable 5 for frontier AI…