The BasePeople

Elizabeth Dias

National religion correspondent, The New York Times

Titles as the sources gave them. In 1 entry, with 5 checked quotations.

What they said

Newest first. Each quotation was found word for word in the source.

“the story started for me when I was hearing about these different religious thinkers sort of across the whole world who were going into meetings at Anthropic's headquarters”
Anthropic’s Quest to Give A.I. MoralsHard Fork (The New York Times), October 9, 2026. Dias, who reported the story for The New York Times, on how the reporting began.
Speaker known from context, not confirmed by listening
“Anthropic was very careful in all of their interviews with me to say very clearly that they're uncertain, right? Chris never went as far as saying, like, absolutely, these are conscious beings.”
Anthropic’s Quest to Give A.I. MoralsHard Fork (The New York Times), October 9, 2026. On what Anthropic told Dias about whether its models are conscious; 'Chris' is Christopher Olah.
Speaker known from context, not confirmed by listening
“I think for Anthropic, it was part research and part evangelism. That's, that was pretty clear.”
Anthropic’s Quest to Give A.I. MoralsHard Fork (The New York Times), October 9, 2026. Asked what Anthropic wanted from the meetings.
Speaker known from context, not confirmed by listening
“whenever I find in my reporting that there's an NDA about like a moral topic, you know, and it makes me immediately ask, okay, who's benefiting from this?”
Anthropic’s Quest to Give A.I. MoralsHard Fork (The New York Times), October 9, 2026. On the non-disclosure agreements participants signed.
Speaker known from context, not confirmed by listening
“a goal of their conversations with these religious thinkers was about protecting humanity. And the solution for them for that is to make Claude good. They were also concerned about Claude.”
Anthropic’s Quest to Give A.I. MoralsHard Fork (The New York Times), October 9, 2026. On a tension the participants described.
Speaker known from context, not confirmed by listening

In the Base

Every entry they appear in.

  1. PodcastHard Fork (The New York Times)Speaks

    Anthropic’s Quest to Give A.I. Morals

    In a 44-minute Hard Fork episode, guest host Max Read talks with New York Times reporters Elizabeth Dias and Erin Griffith and opinion writer David Wallace-Wells about Dias's report on Anthropic's private meetings with religious thinkers. Dias describes the meetings, held mostly under non-disclosure agreements, as part research and part evangelism, and says Anthropic stayed uncertain whether its models are conscious.