Anthropic reported diary entry to police, woman faces felony charge
3 hours ago
- A Florida woman, Carli Michelle Heller, faces felony charges after writing in Claude that she planned to 'shoot up' the Sheriff's office, treating the chatbot as a diary.
- Claude's safety systems flagged the threat, which was escalated to a human reviewer who deemed it credible and reported it to law enforcement.
- Anthropic may share user information in emergencies to prevent death or serious injury; Heller was detained without incident.
- Florida Statute 836.10 makes written threats of violence, including mass shootings, a second-degree felony, applicable here because the message was viewable by others.
- Previous incidents highlight concerns: OpenAI faced lawsuits for not reporting threats from users like Jesse Van Rootselaar, and Florida sued OpenAI over harms including a 2025 school shooting.
- The incident serves as a reminder that chatbots are not private diaries; human reviewers may see content, similar to Microsoft Copilot's image editor where contractors review prompts and uploads.