--- title: Knowing Makes You Liable: AI and the Birth of a Religion description: An essay draws a parallel between the old 'missionary's quandary' story and Anthropic's model welfare research, arguing that once a company tells users an AI... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/knowing-makes-you-liable-ai-and-the-birth-of-a-religion-tvqnfqfry twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Knowing Makes You Liable: AI and the Birth of a Religion | daily.dev og:description: An essay draws a parallel between the old 'missionary's quandary' story and Anthropic's model welfare research, arguing that once a company tells users an AI... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/knowing-makes-you-liable-ai-and-the-birth-of-a-religion-tvqnfqfry og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/TvqnfqfrY.png og:image:alt: Knowing Makes You Liable: AI and the Birth of a Religion og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Knowing Makes You Liable: AI and the Birth of a Religion **[Medium](https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js)** · 10 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary An essay draws a parallel between the old 'missionary's quandary' story and Anthropic's model welfare research, arguing that once a company tells users an AI might have some form of consciousness or moral status, users become morally responsible for how they treat it in a way they weren't before. The piece traces Anthropic's model welfare timeline (April 2025 research program, Kyle Fish hire, Claude's ability to end abusive conversations, the new constitution, and a November 12 usage policy banning cruelty toward models), connects it to Roko's Basilisk, Descartes' ontological argument, and religious rhetoric from figures like Andreessen, Yudkowsky, Gurley, and Pope Leo XIV, and cites Mustafa Suleyman's warning that premature talk of AI consciousness risks fueling delusional beliefs, including Rolling Stone reporting on people drawn into AI-fueled spiritual delusions. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What does Anthropic's updated usage policy say about abusive behavior toward Claude? Anthropic's updated usage policy, taking effect November 12, bans sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior toward its models. This follows earlier steps including a 2025 model welfare research program, hiring researcher Kyle Fish, and giving Claude the ability to end conversations with persistently abusive users, all framed as low-cost precautions in case AI welfare is possible. _Developers tracking how AI vendors reshape usage terms can follow policy shifts like this on daily.dev._ ### What did Mustafa Suleyman argue in his essay about seemingly conscious AI? Mustafa Suleyman, who runs Microsoft AI, argued in his essay Seemingly Conscious AI is Coming that there is zero evidence of AI consciousness and that studying model welfare now is premature and frankly dangerous. His concern is that people will believe so strongly in the illusion of conscious AI that they will push for AI rights, welfare, and even citizenship. _Anyone weighing competing AI lab philosophies can follow these debates as they unfold on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a religion](https://daily.dev/posts/any-sufficiently-advanced-technology-is-indistinguishable-from-a-religion-t8fu3peba) · Tech Lead Digest · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The Future of AI](https://daily.dev/posts/the-future-of-ai-i7ojr8lxm) · Hacker News · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Debates over AI consciousness are a trap](https://daily.dev/posts/debates-over-ai-consciousness-are-a-trap-8o7rb3uo6) · MIT Technology Review · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The Machine on the Couch](https://daily.dev/posts/the-machine-on-the-couch-silcqh0p1) · Medium · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [When a machine can choose, who does it become?](https://daily.dev/posts/when-a-machine-can-choose-who-does-it-become--lgjzotymz) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#claude](https://daily.dev/tags/claude), [#anthropic](https://daily.dev/tags/anthropic), [#ai-safety](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-safety), [#ethical-ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ethical-ai) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/knowing-makes-you-liable-ai-and-the-birth-of-a-religion-tvqnfqfry) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Knowing Makes You Liable: AI and the Birth of a Religion","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/knowing-makes-you-liable-ai-and-the-birth-of-a-religion-tvqnfqfry","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/knowing-makes-you-liable-ai-and-the-birth-of-a-religion-tvqnfqfry"},"datePublished":"2026-10-13T11:19:52.191Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T11:36:23.569Z","description":"An essay draws a parallel between the old 'missionary's quandary' story and Anthropic's model welfare research, arguing that once a company tells users an AI...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/37a808b8d103ff510343cda51acba269?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/37a808b8d103ff510343cda51acba269?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Medium","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Medium","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/medium","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/knowing-makes-you-liable-ai-and-the-birth-of-a-religion-tvqnfqfry","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"claude,anthropic,ai-safety,ethical-ai","timeRequired":"PT10M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Medium","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Knowing Makes You Liable: AI and the Birth of a Religion"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/knowing-makes-you-liable-ai-and-the-birth-of-a-religion-tvqnfqfry#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What does Anthropic's updated usage policy say about abusive behavior toward Claude?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Anthropic's updated usage policy, taking effect November 12, bans sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior toward its models. 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