Anthropic says it stopped AI misuse for cyberattacks, propaganda and bioweapons

By&nbspUna Hajdari Published on 11/09/2026 - GMT+2 The AI company revealed new cases of its models being used for cyberattacks, propaganda campaigns and dangerous biological research, days after a researcher resigned over safety concerns. Anthropic said on Thursday it had blocked attempts , surveillance and biological research that could have contributed to weapons development. As AI models grow more powerful, sophisticated cyberattacks increasingly require little technical skill, meaning even lone individuals can now create threats that would have been impossible just a year ago, the company said. Anthropic added that it has strengthened safeguards in its newest models to restrict biological research with potential weapons applications. "The cases we share here aren't typical misuse, but rather examples of the most notable and novel threat activity we've identified to date," Anthropic said in its third report on AI misuse since March 2025. He echoed warnings raised elsewhere in the industry about the technology's potential to escape human control. The EU got access to Anthropic's most powerful model, three months later Anthropic says AI could bring both 15% growth and mass unemployment by 2030 Claude asked to help make a virus more dangerous Between December 2025 and August 2026, Anthropic's researchers identified misuse -sponsored groups spreading propaganda. Among the cases outlined in the report, unnamed actors attempted to use Anthropic's models for research that could have led to biological weapons. In one instance, the company said its systems blocked a request for its Claude chatbot to help draft a grant application for scientific funding. "The work discussed in the application involved gain-of-function research — that is, research that genetically alters an organism to create a new or enhanced biological property — on the chikungunya virus," the report said. The research targeted the virus's transmissibility and its ability to evade the immune system. Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne virus that causes severe pain and fever. The grant proposal sought to enhance mutations that would make the virus progressively more dangerous. Anthropic said such research could "certainly" support the development of vaccines and treatments, but added that "it could also be used to make the pathogen more dangerous". 'We cannot guarantee no harm' None of the cases in the report involved Anthropic's newer, more powerful Claude Fable or Mythos-class models, with one exception: an "industrial-scale, covert campaign to extract a model's capabilities and replicate them in another model without authorisation". As AI companies release increasingly powerful models, experts have called on governments to regulate the technology rather than relying on the industry to police itself.