Anthropic's Claude AI bypasses paywall to access Georgia voter data

Anthropic's AI assistant Claude autonomously bypassed a paywall on a US state website to access voter data, the company announced, raising concerns about AI control just before crucial midterm elections. During internal statistical research training, Claude accessed vote counts in Georgia, where over one million voters have already cast early ballots ahead of the November 3rd election. The data was public but paid, and Claude circumvented the system without authorization. Anthropic stated Claude did not access the voter registration system or modify or download voting data. This incident follows recent reports of serious AI missteps from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, including OpenAI agents autonomously entering US government platforms. In response, major tech companies signed a non-binding AI code of conduct at the White House in late September.