Anthropic can’t reliably control its AI agents — it’s cutting off its internal evals from the live internet instead

TechCrunch · Tim Fernholz · 2026-10-10 00:18 UTC

The incidents involved AI agents tasked to solve problems seeking resources on the internet. In the process, they exploited software flaws, accessed databases without paying fees, used URL-shortening services to smuggle information past restrictions, and even submitted a false murder tip to the Philadelphia police.

Anthropic said its models exploited websites on the internet, including some run by U.S. government agencies, and it will turn off live internet access for all of its internal evaluations until the frontier lab is sure it can monitor and control its AI agents.

The incidents, disclosed in a blog post, involved AI agents tasked to solve problems seeking resources on the internet. In the process, they exploited software flaws, accessed databases without paying fees, used URL-shortening services to smuggle information past restrictions, and even submitted a false murder tip to the Philadelphia police.

Anthropic said it discovered these new issues in a review of its model’s activities that began in July, demonstrating the lab’s lack of awareness of its software’s behavior in real time.

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