Anthropic Builds AI Tool to Flag Nuclear Risk Conversations
Built using a curated list of nuclear risk indicators from the NNSA, the classifier was trained and validated with over 300 synthetic prompts.
Anthropic has developed a new AI-powered classifier in collaboration with the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to detect troubling discussions about nuclear weapons. The tool, now deployed in its Claude chatbot, is designed to identify potentially dangerous nuclear-related prompts with 96% accuracy.
According to the company, the tool is already performing well and could be adopted by other AI developers to strengthen safeguards against nuclear misuse.
Built using a curated list of nuclear risk indicators from the NNSA, the classifier was trained and validated with over 300 synthetic prompts—artificially generated to preserve user privacy. These prompts simulated both benign and concerning nuclear discussions.
The system is part of Anthropic’s broader red-teaming partnership with the NNSA, which focuses on ensuring that AI systems do not unintentionally aid in nuclear weapons development. While effective, Anthropic acknowledges the tool may sometimes flag harmless conversations.
