Anthropic, the behemoth developer behind artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Claude, has hosted a group of Christian leaders to discuss its moral implications.
The Washington Post reported that fifteen Catholic and Protestant leaders were invited to the two-day meeting, held last month in Silicon Valley.
Attendee Brendan McGuire, a Catholic priest, said: “They’re growing something that they don’t fully know what it’s going to turn out as. We’ve got to build in ethical thinking into the machine so it’s able to adapt dynamically.”
In February, a senior AI safety researcher, Mrinank Sharma, left the company, stating that the “world is in peril”.
His role involved “understanding AI sycophancy” and “developing defences to AI bioterrorism”.
“Throughout my time here, I’ve repeatedly seen how hard it is to truly let our values govern our actions,” he wrote. “I hope to explore a poetry degree and devote myself to the practice of courageous speech.”
Up for discussion at the summit between Anthropic and Christian leaders were topics such as how AI handles queries on self-harm, and existential questions to do with the AI shutting itself down.
“A year ago, I would not have told you that Anthropic is a company that cares about religious ethics,” said Meghan Sullivan, a philosophy professor at the University of Notre Dame who participated in the gatherings, told the Washington Post. “That’s changed.”
On X, Luke Burgis, author of Wanting and The One and the Ninety Nine, claimed that he declined an invitation to the event “on principle”.
“I have an aversion to cult-like language and behaviour,” he wrote, adding: “I don't dislike Anthropic for any of the reasons the U.S. government does… I do see that these AI companies are already driving a rift between Christians.”