With mounting pressure on AI labs to curb the many real-world harms their products cause consumers, it’s never been clearer that they’re monitoring users’ conversations.
Just ask Carli Michelle Heller, a woman arrested in Bonita Springs, Florida after allegedly telling Anthropic’s chatbot Claude about her plan to “shoot up” a nearby sheriff’s office.
According to WINK News, Heller was charged with making a written threat of violence — a second-degree felony in Florida — after Anthropic’s internal monitoring software flagged her chat logs for human review. After being viewed by a human employee at Anthropic, WINK reports, the company determined that Heller’s plans rose to the level of a credible threat, ultimately informing local police.
As Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno told local reporters in a statement, the woman admitted to using Claude like a “diary,” apparently unaware that her chat history could be read by Anthropic employees.
