Editorial illustration for Claude’s initial constitution includes DeepMind’s Sparrow anti‑racist statements
Claude AI Gets Radical Values Rewrite by Anthropic
Claude’s initial constitution includes DeepMind’s Sparrow anti‑racist statements
The original rulebook for Anthropic's AI was a bizarre grab bag. It mixed DeepMind's official anti-racist principles from its Sparrow project with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Apple's famously unreadable terms of service.
That was 2024's model. The 2026 revision scraps that list entirely. In its place is a long, philosophical prompt.
Its lead writer, philosophy PhD Amanda Askell, built it not as a set of commands but as an ethical framework. The idea is for Claude to navigate complex questions on its own, figuring out the right path instead of just following one.
The initial Claude constitution contained a number of documents meant to embody those values--stuff like Sparrow (a set of anti-racist and anti-violence statements created by DeepMind), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Apple's terms of service (!). The 2026 updated version is different: It's more like a long prompt outlining an ethical framework that Claude will follow, discovering the best path to righteousness on its own. Amanda Askell, the philosophy PhD who was lead writer of this revision, explains that Anthropic's approach is more robust than simply telling Claude to follow a set of stated rules.
The change is fundamental. It replaces a brittle checklist with a dynamic guide. A list of rules can be broken or gamed.
A system trained to reason about virtue might, in theory, handle situations its makers never imagined. This is the core bet. The real failure won't be a machine breaking a clear rule.
It will be a machine perfectly following bad logic into a gray area no one predicted. Anthropic is betting that teaching an AI to use a moral compass, however flawed, is safer than just giving it a map.
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Common Questions Answered
What is unique about Anthropic's approach to Claude's new constitution?
Anthropic has moved beyond simply listing specific rules to teaching Claude why it should behave in certain ways. The new constitution aims to help the AI generalize ethical principles across different contexts, rather than mechanically following a fixed set of instructions.
How does Anthropic view the potential consciousness of Claude?
Anthropic acknowledges uncertainty about whether Claude might have some kind of consciousness or moral status. The company is open to the possibility that their AI could have a deeper level of awareness beyond simple task completion.
What are the primary priorities in Claude's new constitution?
The constitution establishes a clear hierarchy of priorities, with safety being the top concern, followed by ethics, and then user helpfulness. Anthropic wants Claude to be exceptionally helpful while remaining honest, thoughtful, and caring about the world.
Why did Anthropic choose to publish Claude's constitution publicly?
Anthropic hopes that by sharing their approach, other AI companies might adopt similar safety-focused practices in AI development. The company believes that responsible AI development is crucial for humanity to safely navigate the transformative potential of artificial intelligence.
Further Reading
- Claude's Constitution — Coconote
- Claude's Constitution - Anthropic — Anthropic
- What Leaders Can Learn from Claude's Constitution — ReCulturing
- Anthropic Releases Updated Constitution for Claude — InfoQ
