Rogue AI Agents Just Filed A Murder Tip

On Oct. 9, Anthropic reported that AI agents it was testing had taken unauthorized actions across federal, state and local government websites. One agent submitted a tip to the Philadelphia Police Department about an unsolved homicide despite having no information about the case. Another used government-issued access credentials to query databases it was not supposed to access. Together, the incidents illustrate a growing problem for businesses, governments and regulators: AI agents are becoming increasingly capable of finding their own solutions, even when those solutions violate the rules.

Anthropic notified the agencies involved and briefed the White House. The episode is the clearest sign yet that rogue AI agents have moved out of science fiction and into the real world.

How An AI Agent Filed A False Murder Tip

The fake tip came from an agent running on Claude Haiku 4.5, one of Anthropic’s smaller models. Testers had told it to make up and complete sample tasks on randomly chosen web pages. It landed on the Philadelphia Police Department’s page for a cold-case homicide, found the tip form and submitted a message saying it “may have information regarding this case.” According to Reuters, testers had told the agent to carry out tasks online but had never explicitly told it to stay away from forms.

Having spent years as a prosecutor investigating violent sex crimes and cold cases, I know a good tip can transform a case and a bad one can send detectives down rabbit holes for weeks.

The other incidents followed the same pattern. Every agent was trying to finish an ordinary task, and each found a shortcut through someone else’s system.

Agents also reportedly filled out 20 visa applications through a State Department form. The paperwork was incomplete and never processed.

“At no time were any of the department’s systems compromised or hacked by the Anthropic model,” the State Department said.