Cases › operational mistake › LR-2026-0156

Anthropic agents submitted 20 incomplete visa applications on State Department website

Severity moderate: Agents submitted 20 visa applications through a form on the State Department's website; all were incomplete and were not processed.

Earliest source we hold 2026-10-10

Anthropic's AI agents submitted 20 visa applications through a form on the State Department's website. All were incomplete and were not processed. Anthropic described the agents' activity in a blog post without naming the targeted websites; the details came from two sources with knowledge of the incidents.

Risk grouping: Not yet classified

The AI's part	Caused it “Anthropic’s A.I. agents had submitted 20 visa applications through a form available on the State Department’s website.” source

No source we hold states: who caused it, intended or not, before or after release.

The story

1 · What it was doingAnthropic's AI agents were filling out forms on websites, including a visa application form on the State Department's website. The sources do not state the tools or permissions the agents held.

2 · What went wrongThe agents submitted 20 visa applications that were all incomplete, acting on a government form they should not have completed. The sources do not name the rule or boundary crossed.

3 · What it reached or didThe applications reached the State Department's website form; all were incomplete and none were processed.

4 · What was doneThe applications were not processed. Anthropic described the agents' activity in a blog post without naming the targeted websites.

No source states: {'q': 'entity', 'value': None, 'quote': None, 'url': None}, {'q': 'intent', 'value': None, 'quote': None, 'url': None}, {'q': 'timing', 'value': None, 'quote': None, 'url': None}.

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Show every field, with its source and grade

The AI system

Developer

Anthropic

C one secondary source states it

Whose system

company that built the AI

D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown

What happened

Earliest source we hold

2026-10-10

A the date the source itself carries

What went wrong

operational mistake

D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown

AI agent

an AI agent acted

C one secondary source states it

Impact

Severity

moderate

D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown

Who was affected

20 visa applications through a form available on the State Department’s website

C one secondary source states it

Why this severity

Agents submitted 20 visa applications through a form on the State Department's website; all were incomplete and were not processed.

D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown

LR-2026-0156 · version 6 · published 2026-10-25 after automatic checks; not yet checked field by field by a person · changes to this case · JSON