Tanya Mosley

And then you meet Claude, which I'm kind of describing it this way because some people, I'm using it as if it is a person versus a technology, but some people are very familiar with Claude.

Some people don't know anything about Claude.

So can you describe what is, who is Claude?

Can you describe what's the difference between Claude and some of those other AI tools like ChatGPT?

What makes them different?

You mentioned the philosopher.

Her name is Amanda Askell, and her job is to supervise what she calls Claude's soul.

So she gives it a soul, and she wrote a set of instructions, kind of like a moral constitution that defines who Claude is supposed to be.

That's what you're referring to.

What are some of the things that are like the top lines on some of those moral codes that one would put into a product like this?

One of the most memorable parts of your piece is

is this experiment called

Project Vend, where Anthropic essentially gave Claude a job running a vending machine in the office.

Can you set the scene?

What did this thing actually look like and what was it supposed to prove?

Did it also threaten a vendor?

From the show, from the substance.

Our guest today is New Yorker staff writer Gideon Lewis Krauss.

We'll be right back after a short break.

I'm Tanya Moseley, and this is Fresh Air.