Does AI have feelings?

[Jason]

Anthropic wants you to stop hating on Claude, according to Alex Blake (2026) at TechRadar:

Be honest: how civil have you been recently with an AI chatbot? If the answer is anything stronger than "not very," Anthropic would like a word.

That's because the developer of the Claude large language model (LLM) has added a new clause to its Usage Policy document that bars people from engaging in "sustained and needless abusive or cruel behavior towards our models."

Their policy change probably says more about internet users than it does about Claude having feelings. However, I find it more disturbing that Anthropic's CEO isn't sure whether Claude is conscious.

What do you think, guys? Are you going to start playing nice with AI chatbots, or are you already doing so since you're Canadian and over 12? Sound off, or at least give me a 'like'.

Sorry, Buster, I know you prefer putting everything about a topic in one long thread, but I like to mix it up a bit.


References

Blake, A. (2026, October 9). Anthropic bans 'needless abusive or cruel behavior' towards Claude — and it's sparked a huge debate about 'anthropomorphizing' AI. TechRadar. https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/anthropic-bans-needless-abusive-or-cruel-behavior-towards-claude-and-its-sparked-a-huge-debate-about-anthropomorphizing-ai

[ssfc72]

I have never used AI bots for questions/searches.

 I just use Google search for any answers that I need.

[buster]

I'm with Bill on this, though I do use the AI built into Google searches for things like movie reviews and geography. Usually I also look up some of the other sites that aren't part of the original summary.

[Jason]

I have never used AI bots for questions/searches.

 I just use Google search for any answers that I need.

Google uses AI in its searches whether you want it to or not. Look at the top of your search results; the first blurb is usually AI. It seems other search engines do, too. I wish they wouldn't, though. If I want to use AI, I'll use a chatbot directly. If I want a search, I'll use that instead. I don't need a Frankenstein monster of search.

[buster]

" Look at the top of your search results; the first blurb is usually AI."

I like and use this feature a lot. Right now I'm researching and watching film noir and westerns, mostly 40's to 70's. The summaries are generally gathered info that has been established. It's a guilty shortcut.

If I wish to turn off AI during a search I follow this advice:

"Add -ai to Queries: Type -ai at the end of your search phrase to manually filter out generative results."

[ssfc72]

Sorry, I should have said that I use the Startpage search engine, not Google.

Startpage does actually use the Google search engine, but it somewhat isolates you from Google, so Google doesn"t really know who is doing the search query.

[Jason]

Sorry, I should have said that I use the Startpage search engine, not Google.

Startpage does actually use the Google search engine, but it somewhat isolates you from Google, so Google doesn"t really know who is doing the search query.

Okay, that makes more sense. I use Ecosia for searches, which does something similar, but it uses searches from Google and Bing. If you don't like the results, a dropdown menu option lets you use Google directly. I like Ecosia because they use their profits to plant trees.

[Jason]

" Look at the top of your search results; the first blurb is usually AI."

I like and use this feature a lot. Right now I'm researching and watching film noir and westerns, mostly 40's to 70's. The summaries are generally gathered info that has been established. It's a guilty shortcut.

If I wish to turn off AI during a search I follow this advice:

"Add -ai to Queries: Type -ai at the end of your search phrase to manually filter out generative results."

Thanks for the tip. I don't use Google, but it's good to know they have the option.