Anthropic Is Building AI to Surveil and Flag Anti-AI Activists Before They Act
Tom Cruise as Chief John Anderton in Minority Report (2002)
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Anthropic is treating activism like a security threat
A new report from The American Prospect has found that Anthropic — you know, the company destroying rare books and working feverishly to accelerate environmental destruction so companies can have a pretext for laying you off — is developing a predictive surveillance system to monitor activists.
In addition to monitoring activists in the vicinity of Anthropic executives and keeping tabs on protests near physical Anthropic assets, the firm is also implementing a “pre-crime” approach, attempting to predict incidents before they happen.
In some cases, that also means reporting suspects to police before a crime occurs." Citing a podcast interview with key security figures from Anthropic, they describe an incident wherein mass surveillance thwarted a protest by alerting executives of it ahead of time and routing them elsewhere.
In another incident, Anthropic called the police on a Claude user who told Claude he bought an AR-15 and had CEO Dario Omedi "in his sights."
Yet, "while Anthropic was fast to call the cops on a frustrated Claude user, the Standard also reported a key detail: Anthropic refused to show police the actual messages, citing Anthropic’s internal policy. In short, Anthropic reported a user for in-platform speech, and then refused to provide police with evidence of actual wrongdoing."
Why this news matters
The larger issue is what happens when lawful political activity becomes part of a corporate threat-intelligence system.
Anthropic is currently hiring an intelligence specialist whose responsibilities include tracking and investigating “activism” in the same threat portfolio as terrorism, crime, geopolitical instability and nation-state activity.
The company has also said it tracks concerning behavior over time through a “person-of-interest” process, while The American Prospect reports that Anthropic has begun making routine reports to police departments around the country.
That creates a system capable of taking ordinary political activity, gathering it into security intelligence, following people or groups over time and escalating cases to law enforcement before a crime has occurred.
Private companies are generally not bound by the First Amendment in the same way government agencies are. The civil-liberties stakes grow when private intelligence enters government systems, contributes to police investigations or becomes part of a longer-term record about people engaged in protected political activity.
Want to investigate this where you live?
Mapping these systems is one way the public can begin determining just how far this infrastructure extends, which means we can all do our part by bringing attention to how these systems operate locally. For example, here is a useful public-records request could ask your local police department or sheriff’s office:
All communications, reports, threat assessments, incident reports, contracts, memoranda of understanding and data-sharing agreements involving Anthropic PBC, Claude, Samdesk, or representatives of those companies that concern protests, demonstrations, activists, civil disturbances, threats to AI companies, AI facilities or data centers.
Give the agency a defined time period and ask separately for any policies governing information received from private corporate-security or threat-intelligence companies. Narrow, specific requests tend to produce better results than asking broadly for everything related to surveillance.
We have included a list of resources below to help you get started. If you uncover a contract, report, email or policy showing how your local government is receiving or using private intelligence about political activity, let us know what you find.
What You Can Do
Make the surveillance visible.
Corporate surveillance becomes harder to challenge when nobody knows where it exists, what information is being collected or how that intelligence reaches law enforcement. You can protect yourself, learn what systems operate where you live and start following the paper trail.
Protect your data
Review your Claude privacy settings
If you use Claude, review what conversations you keep, what data you share and whether your chats can be used to improve Anthropic's models. Anthropic also provides tools for exporting and deleting conversation data.
Protect your organizing
EFF Surveillance Self-Defense
The Electronic Frontier Foundation maintains a security guide specifically for activists and protesters, covering phones, messaging, location data, social media and surveillance around demonstrations.
Know your rights
ACLU Protesters' Rights
Learn what protections apply when attending demonstrations, documenting police activity or encountering law enforcement during a protest.
Find legal support
National Lawyers Guild
The National Lawyers Guild's Mass Defense Program supports demonstrations and movements through Legal Observers, legal education, protest resources and connections to local legal support.
Investigate locally
Atlas of Surveillance
Search your city, county or local law enforcement agency to see what surveillance technologies have already been documented in your community, from facial recognition and automated license plate readers to predictive policing tools and real-time crime centers.
Follow the paper trail
MuckRock
Public-records requests can help uncover contracts, emails, policies, threat assessments and data-sharing agreements between government agencies and private surveillance companies. MuckRock provides guides and tools for filing requests.