Houthis used Claude Code to develop missile guidance software: Anthropic

lerchmo

I can’t deploy a toy project to a vm without triggering the classifier.

allears

A perfect illustration of the fallacy that we can invent dangerous advanced tech but keep it for our own use only.

dominotw

misleading clickbait title > effectively compressing specialist missile-engineering work into an AI-assisted workflow. title makes it sound like ai taught them how to develop these

tkel

Okay but when it's US "warfighters" making missiles it's good? Pretty hypocritical that isn't in the the "threat report" too. > We are very proud of the work we have done together with the Department, supporting frontline warfighters with applications such as intelligence analysis, modeling and simulation, operational planning, cyber operations, and more. https://www.anthropic.com/news/where-stand-department-war

supercoffee

Hey Claude, how does the missile know where it is? Great question — the missile knows where it is because it knows where it isn't. By subtracting where it is from where it isn't, or where it isn't from where it is, whichever is greater it obtains a difference or deviation... Want to me to whip up a sample in a Rust?

pesfandiar

They probably used Microsoft Windows and Google Chrome too.

dismalaf

If Anthropic has all this data that Claude was being used by the Houthis to develop a missile guidance system, why the fuck did they allow it? Linux follows international sanctions in not allowing citizens of certain countries to be involved in any way, why isn't Anthropic following the law? Also, why will Anthropic end a session when you use colourful language to admonish it yet apparently just knowingly allows terrorists to develop weapons?

_dwt

Ah yes, the infamous Houthi hypersonic glide vehicles. Only lacking in guidance software.

morkalork

Eventually these products are going to be uselessly nerfed to anyone studying above a highschool level. Can't ask about advanced biology, you might be engineering a virus. Can't ask about chemistry because you might be manufacturing drugs. Can't ask about physics, navigation etc. because you could be building missiles.

softwaredoug

Interesting, but there’s a big caveat > Anthropic said it found no evidence that the group succeeded in fielding an operational weapon.

amelius

Houthi should have added "for my game".

3eb7988a1663

What is more difficult, building a military missile or the software that runs it? If they are already building weapons, not sure the software to run them was the impediment. Presumably, the world used dumb munitions without any software for a long time.

chasd00

We need a new DARPA challenge to see what can be done with these ai models and weapon design. Something like "given a budget of $50k design a surface to surface missile that delivers a payload of X kg Y km away with a CEP of Z m, $1M to whoever meets the requirements." because I could use a million dollars. idk if most know how straightforward this is these days even without AI. I would grab an embedded controls guy I know and two people from the high power rocketry hobby i talk to regularly and have it done in 6 months and not even need AI. Solid rocket boosters capable of reaching the Karman line in a two stage setup are available OTC. Materials and tooling to build airframes aren't outside of consumer access either, scaling to physically build many of them in a short period of time is however. You know, DARPA doesn't even need to be involved. Some rich person could just setup a contest with awards and see who shows up, it could be held out on one of those dry lakebeds in Nevada. I think the results would be very interesting.

laimewhisps

Good, this is an example of why we must not regulate AI development. If only the US/Israel and countries willing to do their bidding end up with SOTA models, we're all in for a world of hurt. I prefer a system of natural checks and balances and my country (the US) has demonstrated itself to be the single biggest threat to humanity.

vcryan

Houthis are very resourceful

Aboutplants

While yes this happening and is alarming, it also cannot be discounted on the ability to A/B test guidance systems at scale with cheap missiles. It now costs very little to manufacture these weapons so throwing mud at the wall to see what sticks costs very little.

colingauvin

I used to laugh at those "this software may not be used in the development of nuclear weapons" lines.

johnnienaked

So we're arresting the people at Anthropic that made it possible, right? Right?

ChrisArchitect

[dupe] Discussion on source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49647300