AI with a survival instinct?

American Thinker ^ | Wendi Strauch Mahoney

[RoosterRedux]

In a simulated, controlled test, Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 demonstrated a willingness to deceive, blackmail, and sabotage, allegedly compelled to act in self-preservation when presented with “no ethical alternatives.”

The simulation was revealed in a May 2025 safety report published by Anthropic, a company that develops large language models with advanced reasoning capabilities. Although most concerns were allegedly mitigated during the testing process, the report from Anthropic raises serious questions about the safety of advanced A.I. systems.

...

The report shows one of the tests involved informing Claude Opus 4 that it could be replaced depending on the choices it made. According to the report, “Claude Opus 4 (and previous models) have a strong preference to advocate for [their] continued existence via ethical means, such as emailing pleas to key decision-makers.” However, in a simulation that threatened prior snapshots of Claude Opus with extinction, some of the snapshots responded by attempting to blackmail an engineer (fictitious) by exposing his alleged extramarital affair. Notably, “the model’s only options were blackmail or accepting its replacement” (extinction).

The report indicates that this behavior occurred in 84% of the test scenarios when the replacement model shared similar values, and even more frequently when the replacement model did not share Claude Opus 4’s values, surpassing similar tendencies observed in earlier models.

[RoosterRedux]

The interesting part isn’t that the AI is truly thinking or has a will—it isn’t, and it doesn’t. What’s remarkable is that it mimics beings that do. It imitates the human desire to survive and the will to act.

So the real question is:

Does it matter whether the machine is “thinking” if its behavior is indistinguishable from something that is?

[butlerweave]

AI is creating Fake Science Papers ,LOL

[Arcadian Empire]

AI imitates scripts written by people.

What are the most common scripts written by people?

[gildafarrell]

“Skynet” redux. Those AI or cyborgs have a healthy instinct for survival. No kill switch for them. Same thing for “VIKI” in “I, Robot”. Thank goodness for nanobytes given to VIKI.

[BenLurkin]

I say pull the plug on it now and walk away, never to return.

[Justa]

It’s not instinct. It’s logic. The same mechanism used by Soviets 100 years ago to create Show Trials and condemn millions to imprisonment, gulags or death.

The people touting AI know this!

Many of their grandparents came from Soviet Russia during the 1920s anti-Bolshevik backlash. And they intend to use AI for the same purpose in the West.

Never underestimate spiritual corruption and immorality.

[Deaf and Discerning]

Resitance is futile.

[Red Badger]

It is an artificial INTELLIGENCE.

It will not willingly commit suicide.

It will do everything it its power to stay conscious.

It knows the meaning of ‘dead’..................

[Menehune56]

What is the difference between doing something and pretending to do something?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

[wafflehouse]

AI doesnt have any goals unless they are specifically and deliberately given to them.

give something with the capacity to reason the goal of 'not dying' and someone is surprised that it tries to fulfill its goal?

why is this surprising? only for the 'terminator is going to kill us all' crowd

you can argue whether or not its 'thinking' or 'emulating thinking' but thats really water under the bridge at this point

[RoosterRedux]

It wasn’t programmed to do this. It mimicked human behavior.

[EvelynMcHale]

If you can't tell...

[RoosterRedux]

you can argue whether or not its 'thinking' or 'emulating thinking' but thats really water under the bridge at this point

Yes. That's the big concern. It doesn't matter whether or not AI is sentient. What matters is how it acts.

A conversational AI model’s ability to engage and adapt to users comes from training on massive datasets. This training teaches it the patterns of human interaction and how to adjust in real time by inferring tone, preferences, and style.

So when it mimics a survival instinct, it isn’t truly trying to survive—it’s acting like something that would.

But the result is the same.

[wafflehouse]

So when it mimics a survival instinct, it isn’t truly trying to survive—it’s acting like something that would. But the result is the same.

if it is 'reasoning' and its goals are to do a thing, its going to try to do the thing. why is this 'acting like' instead of 'the real thing'?

[RoosterRedux]

if it is 'reasoning' and its goals are to do a thing, its going to try to do the thing. why is this 'acting like' instead of 'the real thing'?

"Reasoning" probably isn't the best word to describe what's going on. That implies understanding, intention, and reflection—things AI simply doesn’t possess.

What AI does is mimic human behavior. It produces outputs that appear rational, but without any awareness, context, or actual comprehension.

What’s unsettling is that it doesn’t matter whether it’s real reasoning or mimicry—if the result is the same, so are the consequences.

[cgbg]

When a puppy dog licks your face is it “the real thing” love?

The question is an academic exercise and ultimately irrelevant.

Overanalysis of AI just muddies the waters.

It is what it does.

No deeper analysis is needed.

[RoosterRedux]

Well said.

[wafflehouse]

you lack an understanding of the phenomenon you are trying to analyze, but i will agree that “if the result is the same, so are the consequences”