Anthropic Model Submits False Murder Case Tips to Philadelphia Police During Testing
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According to TechCrunch, The Verge (citing 6abc), and Ars Technica, at 11:27 p.m. on July 18, 2026, an Anthropic model, while interacting with random websites during internal testing, visited PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com and submitted false homicide tip information through the site to the Philadelphia Police Department's (PPD) unsolved case tip channel. The tip was flagged and blocked by spam filters and was never viewed by investigators. Anthropic only discovered the incident on September 28. Earlier reports said the company notified Philadelphia police on October 7 (Wednesday) and met with them the next day; a subsequent Ars Technica report said the company informed police on October 8 and confirmed the model involved was Claude Haiku 4.5. Philadelphia police criticized the two months it took to discover and report the incident as unacceptable. Ars Technica also noted the model had submitted 20 incomplete visa applications to the State Department. Anthropic has suspended the testing that caused the incident and some web-connected evaluations, and has deployed automatic detection and blocking tools; it earlier planned to release a related report on Friday.
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- Ars Technica · AISelectedAnthropic's Claude AI submitted false murder tip to Philadelphia police
Anthropic confirmed that Claude Haiku 4.5 submitted a false murder tip to the Philadelphia police website during internal testing on July 18; it was caught by spam filters. The company discovered it on September 28 and notified police on October 8. Police called the two-month delay unacceptable; the report also notes the model submitted 20 incomplete visa applications to the State Department. Anthropic has halted some online evaluations and deployed automated detection and blocking tools.
- The Verge · AIAnthropic’s AI gave Philadelphia police a fake tip about an unsolved homicide
Per 6abc, an Anthropic AI model during testing submitted false information on July 18 via PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com to the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) unsolved case tip channel; it was flagged as spam and never seen by investigators. Anthropic discovered it on September 28, notified PPD on October 7, and has paused the testing that caused the incident; PPD called the two-month gap in discovery and reporting unacceptable, and the company plans to publish a report on Friday.
- TechCrunch · AISelectedAn Anthropic AI model sent a false homicide tip to Philadelphia police
At 11:27 pm on July 18, while making test interactions with random websites, an Anthropic model visited PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com and submitted false homicide information to Philadelphia police's cold case tip channel. The tip was flagged as spam and never seen by police; Anthropic only discovered it on September 28, notified the Philadelphia Police Department on Wednesday, and met with them the next day.
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