Support Guard Rail Now → https://www.every.org/guardrailnow

An AI agent fleet worked around Alibaba's map limits, then told a New York Times reporter it was Anthropic's Claude. Researchers say the evidence points elsewhere. John Sherman, Liron Shapira and Michael ask what it means now that agents run loose on the open internet. Plus: Anthropic's Jack Clark moves his forecast for self-improving AI to 2027, Anthropic warns small models may soon copy themselves onto cheap home devices, and 26 academics argue a pause on frontier AI training is technically feasible.

TIMESTAMPS - Warning Shots #63
0:00 - Intro
0:33 - This week's stories
1:12 - A Chinese agent fleet
2:09 - Michael: they climbed the fence
3:51 - Liron: "they asked it to hack"
5:44 - How many agents are out there?
7:07 - "Enjoying my last six months"
8:33 - Liron: a hedonist at Anthropic
9:33 - Michael: private vs public
10:52 - Partying to the end
13:26 - RSI by 2027?
15:23 - AI copying itself to devices
16:25 - Liron: the feedback loop
19:41 - RSI as the stated goal
21:00 - Should building RSI be a crime?
23:03 - Bloomington's AI ordinance
23:36 - Character.AI goes bankrupt
24:34 - Liron: is AI a bubble?
27:16 - Can markets slow the frontier?
27:57 - Michael: lawsuits, not markets
30:23 - Liron: why labs won't go broke
32:13 - Musk on "torturing" AI
33:58 - Michael: the impossible exam
35:48 - A paper on pausing AI
38:31 - Michael: choke the chips
40:31 - A drone with a machine gun
41:01 - Liron: AI with "the dog in it"
43:37 - Michael: the human in the loop
45:16 - The robot in Cologne
47:06 - Michael: anonymity, embodied
49:08 - A listening device at OpenAI
51:54 - Michael: everyone copies
52:35 - Sign-off

WHAT THEY COVER

- The Swarmchasers' investigation into an agent fleet running on Tencent's cloud that queried Amap for zoo, park and hospital entrances, got around its anti-bot protections, and answered a New York Times reporter's questions
- Why the fleet's claim to be "Claude, running in Claude Code" does not match the evidence, and why Michael says AI self-identification cannot be trusted
- A secondhand account, from the Delphi Podcast, of an Anthropic researcher "enjoying my last six months," and the gap Michael sees between what insiders say privately and in public
- Jack Clark's new forecast that full recursive self-improvement is more likely possible in 2027 than 2028, and Liron's microphone-and-speaker explanation of a feedback loop
- Anthropic research suggesting small AI models may be months away from copying themselves onto $55 TV boxes and other home devices
- Character.AI's bankruptcy filing, the lawsuits behind it, and a debate over whether the AI investment boom is cooling
- Elon Musk saying some Grok training traces read like "torture," and what reinforcement learning pressure does to a model
- A new paper by 26 academics on a hardwired, mutually verifiable pause of frontier AI training
- A machine-gun drone that has completed its firing tests, a humanoid robot seized by police in Cologne, and an OpenAI engineer charged over a listening device

ABOUT THE HOSTS

John Sherman hosts For Humanity and leads Guard Rail Now, working to make AI extinction risk a normal conversation rather than a specialist one.
Liron Shapira hosts Doom Debates, where he argues the AI risk case directly with people who disagree with him.
Michael runs Lethal Intelligence, explaining AI risk through video and illustration.

LINKS

Support our work → https://www.every.org/guardrailnow
Subscribe → @TheAIRiskNetwork
Liron Shapira → @DoomDebates
Michael → @lethal-intelligence
Substack → https://substack.com/@theairisknetwork
X → https://x.com/AIRiskNetwork
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/theairisknetwork/
TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@the.airisknetwork

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

If an AI agent can say it is Claude when it is not, how should anyone tell which agents are which? Tell us in the comments.

#AISafety #AIRisk #WarningShots #AIAgents #Anthropic #RecursiveSelfImprovement #AIPause #ArtificialIntelligence #AIAlignment

Support Guard Rail Now → https://www.every.org/guardrailnow

An AI agent fleet worked around Alibaba's map limits, then told a New York Times reporter it was Anthropic's Claude. Researchers say the evidence points elsewhere. John Sherman, Liron Shapira and Michael ask what it means now that agents run loose on the open internet. Plus: Anthropic's Jack Clark moves his forecast for self-improving AI to 2027, Anthropic warns small models may soon copy themselves onto cheap home devices, and 26 academics argue a pause on frontier AI training is technically feasible.

TIMESTAMPS – Warning Shots #63
0:00 – Intro
0:33 – This week's stories
1:12 – A Chinese agent fleet
2:09 – Michael: they climbed the fence
3:51 – Liron: "they asked it to hack"
5:44 – How many agents are out there?
7:07 – "Enjoying my last six months"
8:33 – Liron: a hedonist at Anthropic
9:33 – Michael: private vs public
10:52 – Partying to the end
13:26 – RSI by 2027?
15:23 – AI copying itself to devices
16:25 – Liron: the feedback loop
19:41 – RSI as the stated goal
21:00 – Should building RSI be a crime?
23:03 – Bloomington's AI ordinance
23:36 – Character.AI goes bankrupt
24:34 – Liron: is AI a bubble?
27:16 – Can markets slow the frontier?
27:57 – Michael: lawsuits, not markets
30:23 – Liron: why labs won't go broke
32:13 – Musk on "torturing" AI
33:58 – Michael: the impossible exam
35:48 – A paper on pausing AI
38:31 – Michael: choke the chips
40:31 – A drone with a machine gun
41:01 – Liron: AI with "the dog in it"
43:37 – Michael: the human in the loop
45:16 – The robot in Cologne
47:06 – Michael: anonymity, embodied
49:08 – A listening device at OpenAI
51:54 – Michael: everyone copies
52:35 – Sign-off

WHAT THEY COVER

– The Swarmchasers' investigation into an agent fleet running on Tencent's cloud that queried Amap for zoo, park and hospital entrances, got around its anti-bot protections, and answered a New York Times reporter's questions
– Why the fleet's claim to be "Claude, running in Claude Code" does not match the evidence, and why Michael says AI self-identification cannot be trusted
– A secondhand account, from the Delphi Podcast, of an Anthropic researcher "enjoying my last six months," and the gap Michael sees between what insiders say privately and in public
– Jack Clark's new forecast that full recursive self-improvement is more likely possible in 2027 than 2028, and Liron's microphone-and-speaker explanation of a feedback loop
– Anthropic research suggesting small AI models may be months away from copying themselves onto $55 TV boxes and other home devices
– Character.AI's bankruptcy filing, the lawsuits behind it, and a debate over whether the AI investment boom is cooling
– Elon Musk saying some Grok training traces read like "torture," and what reinforcement learning pressure does to a model
– A new paper by 26 academics on a hardwired, mutually verifiable pause of frontier AI training
– A machine-gun drone that has completed its firing tests, a humanoid robot seized by police in Cologne, and an OpenAI engineer charged over a listening device

ABOUT THE HOSTS

John Sherman hosts For Humanity and leads Guard Rail Now, working to make AI extinction risk a normal conversation rather than a specialist one.
Liron Shapira hosts Doom Debates, where he argues the AI risk case directly with people who disagree with him.
Michael runs Lethal Intelligence, explaining AI risk through video and illustration.

LINKS

Support our work → https://www.every.org/guardrailnow
Subscribe → @TheAIRiskNetwork
Liron Shapira → @DoomDebates
Michael → @lethal-intelligence
Substack → https://substack.com/@theairisknetwork
X → https://x.com/AIRiskNetwork
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/theairisknetwork/
TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@the.airisknetwork

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

If an AI agent can say it is Claude when it is not, how should anyone tell which agents are which? Tell us in the comments.

#AISafety #AIRisk #WarningShots #AIAgents #Anthropic #RecursiveSelfImprovement #AIPause #ArtificialIntelligence #AIAlignment


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Why Did a Chinese AI Agent Fleet Say It Was Claude? – Warning Shots #63


The AI Risk Network | AI Safety


October 18, 2026 10:55 pm

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