Anthropic Unveils RSP Version 3 with Major AI Safety Overhaul

Anthropic has launched the third iteration of its Accountable Scaling Coverage, marking a major restructuring of how the AI firm approaches catastrophic danger mitigation after two and a half years of real-world implementation.

The replace, printed February 24, 2026, introduces three main adjustments: a transparent separation between what Anthropic can obtain alone versus what requires industry-wide motion, a brand new Frontier Security Roadmap with public accountability metrics, and necessary exterior assessment of Threat Studies below sure circumstances.

What Really Modified

Probably the most notable shift? Anthropic is now brazenly admitting that some security measures merely can’t be carried out by a single firm. The earlier RSP’s higher-tier safeguards (ASL-4 and past) had been left deliberately imprecise—seems that wasn’t simply warning, it was as a result of attaining them unilaterally could also be not possible.

A RAND report cited by Anthropic states that “SL5” safety requirements geared toward stopping top-tier cyber threats are “at the moment not attainable” and “will doubtless require help from the nationwide safety group.”

Relatively than water down these necessities to make compliance simple, Anthropic selected to restructure totally. The brand new RSP now explicitly maps out two tracks: commitments the corporate will meet no matter exterior components, and suggestions it believes the whole AI {industry} must undertake.

The Sincere Evaluation

Anthropic’s autopsy on RSP variations 1 and a pair of is refreshingly candid. What labored: the coverage compelled inner groups to deal with security as a launch requirement, and opponents like OpenAI and Google DeepMind adopted comparable frameworks inside months. ASL-3 safeguards had been efficiently activated in Could 2025.

What did not work: functionality thresholds proved way more ambiguous than anticipated. Organic danger evaluation gives a telling instance—fashions now go most fast exams, making it onerous to argue dangers are low, however outcomes aren’t definitive sufficient to show dangers are excessive both. By the point wet-lab trials full, extra highly effective fashions have already shipped.

The political setting hasn’t helped. Federal safety-oriented discussions have stalled as coverage focus shifted towards AI competitiveness and financial progress.

New Accountability Mechanisms

The Frontier Security Roadmap introduces particular, publicly-graded targets together with “moonshot R&D” tasks for info safety, automated red-teaming methods that exceed present bug bounty contributions, and complete information of all crucial AI growth actions—analyzed by AI for insider threats.

Threat Studies will publish each 3-6 months, explaining how capabilities, risk fashions, and mitigations match collectively. Exterior reviewers with “unredacted or minimally-redacted entry” will publicly critique Anthropic’s reasoning.

The corporate is already operating pilots regardless of present fashions not but triggering the exterior assessment requirement.

Trade Implications

This restructuring arrives as AI governance frameworks face rising scrutiny. California’s SB 53, New York’s RAISE Act, and the EU AI Act’s Codes of Observe have all begun requiring frontier builders to publish catastrophic danger frameworks—necessities Anthropic addresses by its present Frontier Compliance Framework.

Whether or not opponents comply with Anthropic’s lead on separating unilateral commitments from {industry} suggestions stays to be seen. The method basically acknowledges that voluntary self-regulation has limits, whereas positioning the corporate to advocate for coordinated authorities motion with out showing to demand guidelines it could possibly’t comply with itself.

For the broader AI sector, Anthropic’s clear acknowledgment of what single corporations can’t obtain alone might show extra influential than the technical coverage particulars themselves.

Picture supply: Shutterstock