Anthropic turns to religious thinkers to help shape Claude’s moral compass

Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI model, is hiring religious thinkers from around the world to help build its AI’s moral guide, according to The New York Times. The report arrives after a string of meetings between Anthropic and faith leaders earlier this year. Those meetings suggest the company’s interest in religious perspectives is part of an ongoing effort, not a one-time publicity move. From boardrooms to theology seminars The most concrete example came in late March 2026. Anthropic convened fifteen Christian leaders to discuss the ethics of artificial intelligence. Catholic thinkers, in particular, have had a hand in the ethical principles found in what Anthropic calls Claude’s “Constitution.” That document serves as the model’s written set of values and guidelines, the rulebook that tells Claude how to reason through difficult requests. Anthropic’s stated aim is for Claude to act as a “good, wise, and virtuous agent.” The company’s approach avoids locking the model into a single ethical doctrine. The outreach continued into spring. In late April 2026, Anthropic executives attended the inaugural “Faith-AI Covenant” roundtable, where they sat alongside leaders from O...