Anthropic cuts off internet access in evaluations after a false police tip

Philadelphia police say the fabricated tip was caught as spam. Anthropic now says it is disabling live internet access across internal evaluations.

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Anthropic ↗NBC10 Philadelphia ↗Axios ↗

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AI geopoliticsHot

Contractor pleads guilty in AI-server diversion case

Reuters reported on October 9 that Ting-Wei "Willy" Sun, a contractor linked to Super Micro, had pleaded guilty the day before in Manhattan. He pleaded guilty to four counts involving alleged conspiracies over export controls, smuggling, fraud and obstruction. The case concerns servers carrying advanced Nvidia chips that were sent to China.

The Justice Department alleged in a March indictment that a wider diversion scheme involved roughly $2.5 billion in server purchases. Sun's plea does not establish the guilt of the other defendants. Reuters reports that Super Micro says it is not a defendant.

Reuters via StreetInsider ↗US Department of Justice ↗

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Companies and laborWarm

OpenAI disputes fired researchers’ account of their dismissals

OpenAI defended its decision to fire three safety researchers on October 9. The company said they mishandled sensitive information, AP reported. Tomek Korbak, Jasmine Wang and Mikita Balesni dispute that account. They warn that the dismissals could discourage safety staff from speaking openly.

The competing public accounts do not establish why OpenAI fired the researchers. In their letter, the researchers ask OpenAI to preserve access for outside auditors, continue monitoring models and set clear collaboration rules. OpenAI denies that it fired them for raising safety concerns.

Associated Press ↗Tomek Korbak, Jasmine Wang and Mikita Balesni ↗

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Security and businessWarm

Sophos reports faster threat investigations with AI agents

An OpenAI customer report says Sophos cut its average response time from about 38 minutes to 89 seconds in cases that used Daybreak agents. The report says AI handles 52% of managed-detection-and-response cases from start to finish, within limits set by Sophos analysts.

These are company-reported results, not an independent comparison or a measure of every case. Sophos retains customer authorization modes and human review for actions an agent should not handle. Faster investigation alone does not establish fewer missed threats.

OpenAI ↗

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Infrastructure and researchWarm

Ai2 replaces GPU priority bidding with time budgets

Ai2 described a new scheduler on October 9 that allocates GPU time through budgets, fair shares and time slicing. Its infrastructure team says requests run at two to three times available capacity. Under the old system, every scheduled workload eventually claimed high priority.

This is Ai2's account of its own infrastructure, not an independent measure of productivity across the industry. Time budgets make teams pay a cost for holding idle reservations. Managers still decide which research deserves the resources.

Ai2 ↗

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The watchlist

Signals that could change the read

Evidence that revised containment catches new unintended actions.

Later proceedings that distinguish each defendant’s responsibility.

Continued access and clear collaboration rules at OpenAI.

Missed threats, false alarms and authorization errors alongside speed.

Across the desks Hot

A false police tip exposes the reach of evaluation tools. Export enforcement, safety disputes and company automation results need distinct evidence.

Evaluation boundariesChangedAnthropic says it is suspending live internet access across all internal evaluations.

Export enforcementPlea enteredSun pleaded guilty; other defendants’ responsibility remains separate.

Safety staffDisputedOpenAI and former researchers give conflicting accounts.

Threat responseCompany reportedSophos reports 89 seconds for cases using its agents.

Editorial direction, not a financial index. Each signal is tied to this edition’s reporting.

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