Anthropic Unveils RSP Version 3 with Major AI Safety Overhaul

Anthropic has launched the third iteration of its Accountable Scaling Coverage, marking a big restructuring of how the AI firm approaches catastrophic threat mitigation after two and a half years of real-world implementation.

The replace, revealed February 24, 2026, introduces three main modifications: a transparent separation between what Anthropic can obtain alone versus what requires industry-wide motion, a brand new Frontier Security Roadmap with public accountability metrics, and obligatory exterior overview of Threat Experiences underneath sure situations.

What Truly Modified

Probably the most notable shift? Anthropic is now brazenly admitting that some security measures merely can’t be carried out by a single firm. The earlier RSP’s higher-tier safeguards (ASL-4 and past) had been left deliberately imprecise—seems that wasn’t simply warning, it was as a result of attaining them unilaterally could also be unattainable.

A RAND report cited by Anthropic states that “SL5” safety requirements aimed toward stopping top-tier cyber threats are “presently not doable” and “will doubtless require help from the nationwide safety neighborhood.”

Slightly than water down these necessities to make compliance straightforward, Anthropic selected to restructure solely. The brand new RSP now explicitly maps out two tracks: commitments the corporate will meet no matter exterior components, and proposals it believes your entire AI {industry} must undertake.

The Sincere Evaluation

Anthropic’s autopsy on RSP variations 1 and a couple of is refreshingly candid. What labored: the coverage compelled inside groups to deal with security as a launch requirement, and opponents like OpenAI and Google DeepMind adopted related frameworks inside months. ASL-3 safeguards had been efficiently activated in Might 2025.

What did not work: functionality thresholds proved way more ambiguous than anticipated. Organic threat evaluation supplies a telling instance—fashions now move most fast assessments, making it arduous to argue dangers are low, however outcomes aren’t definitive sufficient to show dangers are excessive both. By the point wet-lab trials full, extra highly effective fashions have already shipped.

The political surroundings hasn’t helped. Federal safety-oriented discussions have stalled as coverage focus shifted towards AI competitiveness and financial progress.

New Accountability Mechanisms

The Frontier Security Roadmap introduces particular, publicly-graded targets together with “moonshot R&D” tasks for data safety, automated red-teaming techniques that exceed present bug bounty contributions, and complete data of all crucial AI improvement actions—analyzed by AI for insider threats.

Threat Experiences will publish each 3-6 months, explaining how capabilities, risk fashions, and mitigations match collectively. Exterior reviewers with “unredacted or minimally-redacted entry” will publicly critique Anthropic’s reasoning.

The corporate is already operating pilots regardless of present fashions not but triggering the exterior overview requirement.

Trade Implications

This restructuring arrives as AI governance frameworks face rising scrutiny. California’s SB 53, New York’s RAISE Act, and the EU AI Act’s Codes of Observe have all begun requiring frontier builders to publish catastrophic threat frameworks—necessities Anthropic addresses by means of its present Frontier Compliance Framework.

Whether or not opponents observe Anthropic’s lead on separating unilateral commitments from {industry} suggestions stays to be seen. The method primarily acknowledges that voluntary self-regulation has limits, whereas positioning the corporate to advocate for coordinated authorities motion with out showing to demand guidelines it could possibly’t observe itself.

For the broader AI sector, Anthropic’s clear acknowledgment of what single firms can not obtain alone could show extra influential than the technical coverage particulars themselves.

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