United Kingdom, Oct. 9 -- Anthropic has banned users from subjecting its AI models to "sustained and needless abusive or cruel behaviour", as the company continues to investigate whether artificial intelligence systems could have some form of consciousness.

The change, first reported by The Verge, was added to Anthropic's online user policy.

The company has not immediately clarified what specific behaviour could be considered abusive or cruel.

However, the policy says the restriction does not cover ordinary frustration with Claude, testing models or the use of "dark creative themes".

Anthropic's rules already contained restrictions on abusive conduct, but the updated language comes as the company increasingly examines the possibility ...