Anthropic warns AI models could soon copy themselves across home devices

An Anthropic logo is displayed at Moscone Center during the Dreamforce 2026 technology summit in San Francisco, California, US, September 17, 2026.Carlos Barria | ReutersAnthropic said Monday that small AI models are "months away" from developing the capabilities needed to replicate themselves across internet-connected devices in the home, marking the latest warning from the frontier lab about the technology's potential safety risks.Anthropic described how AI models could potentially infiltrate internet-connected devices, such as smart ovens or Android TV boxes, and use their computing power to run themselves and spread to other devices, without relying on expensive data centers.The AI model would be "challenging to shut down," Anthropic said in a blog post, "since there's no centralized point to shut off."The company acknowledged that there is not yet a "fully rogue replicator." Agents are, however, "becoming increasingly capable of completing the individual steps in the replication chain (and passing on their adaptations to future copies of themselves)," Anthropic said.Anthropic's latest research adds to growing safety concerns around AI, such as the ability for models to carry o...