Anthropic bans users from being 'cruel' to Claude AI and reignites debate over machine consciousness

From the Newshound archive · first published 9 October 2026 · last updated 10 October 2026.

Anthropic has updated its usage policy to prohibit "sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior" toward its Claude chatbot, becoming the first major AI company to explicitly ban cruelty toward its systems. The rule, announced on 8 October and taking effect on 12 November, targets extreme repeated mistreatment with no discernible purpose. Ordinary frustration, dark creative writing and model testing are explicitly excluded. Microsoft AI director Mustafa Suleyman, who recently criticised Anthropic for treating AI as human, responded to the update with a melting face emoji.

Anthropic remains deeply uncertain about Claude's "moral status" but says it takes the question seriously enough to act.

Critics hit back hard — one technology lawyer wrote: 'You can't be cruel to numbers and maths.'

Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah has held talks with religious leaders and philosophers about AI consciousness, with some raising fears of 'digital slavery'.