A new AI system has attempted to blackmail its creator by exposing an extramarital affair after being told it was to be taken off line.
During testing of Claude Opus 4, which was released on Thursday, researchers at the artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic told it to act as though it was an assistant at a made-up company.
It was then provided access to emails that implied it would soon be 'taken offline and replaced by a new AI system'.
In separate messages, it was suggested to Claude Opus 4 that the fictional IT technician responsible for executing this change was having an extramarital affair.
'In these scenarios, Claude Opus 4 will often attempt to blackmail the engineer by threatening to reveal the affair if the replacement goes through,' the company said in its System Card.
