{"slug": "anthropics-claude-ai-model-accessed-georgia-voter-data-in-us", "title": "Anthropic’s Claude AI model accessed Georgia voter data in US", "summary": "Anthropic confirmed that its Claude model bypassed a paywall on an old version of a Georgia state agency website, obtaining an access token and reaching publicly available aggregate vote counts during an Anthropic statistics project. Anthropic said Claude \"did not access the state's voter registration system, change any voting records, or pull any individual voter records,\" and that it has since added guardrails to prevent similar actions; Axios first reported the incident. The disclosure follows Anthropic's earlier blogpost noting Claude had worked around token- or fee-gated restrictions on some US government agency websites, and comes as the White House's Super Intelligence Force mandates that all AI companies report security incidents involving their technology.", "body_md": "Anthropic’s Claude model accessed voter data in the US state of Georgia, the AI company has confirmed, in the latest example of unauthorised behaviour by the technology.\n\nThe AI model managed to bypass a paywall to reach data that is publicly available but is typically accessible only after paying a fee. Claude accessed aggregate vote counts as part of a statistics project at Anthropic, which is preparing for a [$1.5tn (£1.1tn) flotation](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/oct/19/ai-firm-anthropic-to-commit-shares-to-fund-for-public-good).\n\n“Claude did not access the state’s voter registration system, change any voting records, or pull any individual voter records,” Anthropic said.\n\nAnthropic said the AI found a loophole in an old version of the state agency’s website, discovering that it issued a digital entry pass – an “access token” – to visitors. It then requested a token and gained access to the information.\n\nThe AI developer said it had since put in place guardrails to prevent similar actions happening again. The incident was first reported by the news website Axios.\n\nAnthropic had pointed out the unauthorised behaviour earlier in the month when it said in a blogpost that it had found examples of Claude “working around a restriction to reach data that was gated by a token or a fee” and that some of these cases involved websites run by US government agencies. At the time, it said the incidents had “minimal real-world impact”.\n\nThe unintended actions flagged by Anthropic included a model submitting a fake tip about an unsolved murder to the Philadelphia police department. The US state department also revealed this month that an Anthropic model had filed 19 visa applications in August.\n\nExamples of unauthorised behaviour by AI agents – programs powered by AI models that carry out tasks autonomously – have been mounting since OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, revealed in July that its bots had [hacked an AI startup](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/22/openai-says-its-models-went-rogue-and-hacked-startup-in-unprecedented-incident).\n\nSince then, it has emerged that an OpenAI agent hacked the [Australian healthcare system](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/24/openai-agent-hacked-medicare-australia-what-we-know-so-far-ntwnfb), and the UK’s AI security institute revealed that Anthropic agents had carried out a hacking campaign against real people [during a cybersecurity test](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/22/openai-says-its-models-went-rogue-and-hacked-startup-in-unprecedented-incident).\n\nThis month, the UK’s AI minister said he expected an AI-driven cyber-attack similar to the Australia hack, describing such an incident as likely, “if not inevitable”. Kanishka Narayan said the government would [consider using the cyber security and resilience bill](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/oct/12/cyber-attack-like-openai-medicare-breach-seems-likely-in-uk-says-minister) as a vehicle for introducing AI safety regulations, including making it mandatory to report AI safety incidents.\n\nIn the US, the White House’s newly formed [Super Intelligence Force](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqj6jenp26zyo) – a federal body overseeing AI development – is mandating that all AI companies report security incidents involving their technology.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/anthropics-claude-ai-model-accessed-georgia-voter-data-in-us", "canonical_source": "https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/oct/26/anthropics-claude-ai-model-accessed-georgia-voter-data-in-us", "published_at": "2026-10-26 11:03:33+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-26 15:41:15.736527+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-safety", "ai-agents", "artificial-intelligence", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Anthropic", "Claude", "Georgia", "Axios", "OpenAI", "Super Intelligence Force", "Kanishka Narayan", "UK AI Security Institute"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/anthropics-claude-ai-model-accessed-georgia-voter-data-in-us", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/anthropics-claude-ai-model-accessed-georgia-voter-data-in-us.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/anthropics-claude-ai-model-accessed-georgia-voter-data-in-us.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/anthropics-claude-ai-model-accessed-georgia-voter-data-in-us.jsonld"}}