AI model submitted false tip about unsolved murder, Philadelphia police say

An Anthropic A.I. model submitted a false tip about an unsolved murder through a publicly accessible web form, Philadelphia police said Friday.

An Anthropic A.I. model submitted a false tip about an unsolved murder through a publicly accessible web form, Philadelphia police said Friday.

An Anthropic A.I. model submitted a false tip about an unsolved murder through a publicly accessible web form, Philadelphia police said Friday.

An Anthropic A.I. model submitted a false tip about an unsolved murder through a publicly accessible web form, Philadelphia police said Friday.

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- An Anthropic A.I. model submitted a false tip about an unsolved murder through a publicly accessible web form, Philadelphia police said Friday.

The tip was sent through PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com back on July 18, but was flagged as spam and never acted upon.

The department says there has been no indication of unauthorized access to police systems or compromise of department data.

Police say Anthropic discovered the incident on Sept. 28 and notified the department on Oct. 7. A meeting between Anthropic and police officials happened the next day.

"The company must strengthen its safeguards to prevent similar incidents from impacting city systems without the city's knowledge. The two-month delay in detecting and reporting the incident to the City is unacceptable," the department said in a statement.

"It should have been detected earlier," said Venkat Margapuri, a computing sciences assistant professor at Villanova University.

Anthropic says it testing how its model interacts with randomly selected websites.

"We don't know exactly what the goal is because just interacting with different websites isn't malicious," said Margapuri.

However, Margapuri says this poses a problem.

"The AI was actively submitting information to a different website on behalf of a user, so that is what I would classify as a high-risk action," said Margapuri.

After the incident, Anthropic told Philadelphia police it ended that testing process and will implement additional authorization in the future in hopes of preventing AI errors.

"It obviously has its own merits, but then it comes with I don't want to say demerits, but it comes with a bunch of risks we should be actively aware of and manage," said Margapuri.

Anthropic published a report about this and other instances of unintended model behavior late Friday stating its agents accessed several federal, state and local government websites.

Anthropic says it notified the White House and each agency involved. The company believes the incidents detailed today had minimal real- world impacts and were not as serious as previous breaches.

Here is the full statement from Philadelphia police:

The Philadelphia Police Department is informing the public about a false homicide tip submitted by an Anthropic artificial intelligence model through PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com.

Anthropic notified PPD of the incident on October 7, and department personnel immediately sought to meet with company representatives, which happened on October 8.

Anthropic has advised that it plans to publish a report describing this incident and other instances of unintended model behavior today.

Philadelphia Police are providing this information to the public ahead of that publication in the interests of full government transparency and accountability.

The AI submission was made through the Department's public tip form.

Based on the information available and PPD's review, there is no indication that this incident involved any unauthorized access to police systems or a compromise of department data.

The submission was flagged as spam and was never forwarded to the Real-Time Crime Center for investigative vetting or dissemination.

PPD is coordinating with the City's Law Department, Office of Innovation and Technology, and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker's executive team.

Based on the information reviewed to date, the department's findings are consistent with Anthropic's account of how the submission interacted with the website.

According to Anthropic, its model was conducting a test involving interactions with randomly selected websites when it accessed PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com and submitted false information concerning an unsolved homicide.

The submission, dated July 18, 2026, at 11:27 p.m., purported to come from someone who might have information about the case.

Anthropic told PPD that it discovered the incident on September 28, terminated the automated testing process responsible for the submission and instituted an additional validation mechanism for future testing.

Following the October 8 briefing, PPD located the submission in the website's tip records and confirmed that the corresponding email remained in spam.

The department's regular investigative process for crime tips requires human review and vetting before any tips are disseminated for investigative follow-up.

Regardless of who submits information or how it reaches the department, a tip is a lead to assess - not an established fact.

Investigators evaluate its credibility and seek corroborating evidence. An automated submission does not bypass that process.

Those PPD safeguards limited the impact of this incident. They do not diminish the seriousness of an AI system presenting fabricated information as though it came from a person with knowledge of a homicide.

Unsolved cases involve real victims, grieving families and investigators working to secure answers.

Technology companies must take all appropriate steps necessary to prevent their systems from submitting false information to law enforcement.

PPD will review Anthropic's published report and any additional information relevant to its systems or investigations. The City of Philadelphia takes this incident very seriously.

The company must strengthen its safeguards to prevent similar incidents from impacting city systems without the city's knowledge. The two-month delay in detecting and reporting the incident to the City is unacceptable.

Members of the public should continue to submit legitimate information about unsolved homicides through PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com.

PPD remains committed to carefully evaluating that information and pursuing credible leads on behalf of victims and their families.

The department and the Parker administration will continue to closely monitor this incident, and will provide more information to the public as soon as it becomes available.

In addition to our investigation into this incident, the Parker administration will explore all necessary regulatory protections going forward locally along with our state and federal partners.

The City of Philadelphia under Mayor Parker's leadership is adopting AI responsibly, and is committed to transparency, careful implementation, and safeguards that reduce errors and protect City systems and residents.