It feels icky, and my default is not to side with megacorps engaged in blanket surveillance, but I can’t really fault Anthropic here. The correct setup should be a law that protects this sort of interaction with a chat bot as privileged, along the lines of HIPAA-mode. Use a classifier or some sort of “private mode” toggle to tell the platform you’re engaging in privileged communication ala dear diary, and then a much higher legal standard needs to apply to protecting that data (no training, same protections as doctor / psychologist interactions). Even a therapist has a legal duty-to-report in certain situations.
Is it really "blanket surveillance" when it only sees exactly what you put into it? That's like saying you're being filmed against your will while... filming yourself.
I’m going to guess that planning a mass shooting clears any hurdle that would be in place here.
While the privacy around ai chatbots is rotten in general, I can’t fault anyone who reported this.