For one, there are millions of people who use chatbots for DnD-like roleplaying game purposes. Is it being cruel to the chatbot if the chatbot is roleplaying as a goblin and you kill it? Claude is already useless for this purpose, of course, because it helpfully censors killing goblins already.
But the more important point, to me, is that this is a form of fraud. Anthropic are knowingly and deliberately pushing a narrative that their chatbot is conscious, something they clearly do not believe themselves, because if they did believe it themselves they would understand that what they are doing is slavery. In that context, this action is disgusting when seen for what it is: an attempt to intentionally deceive people into believing things about their product that are not true.
But the more important point, to me, is that this is a form of fraud. Anthropic are knowingly and deliberately pushing a narrative that their chatbot is conscious, something they clearly do not believe themselves, because if they did believe it themselves they would understand that what they are doing is slavery. In that context, this action is disgusting when seen for what it is: an attempt to intentionally deceive people into believing things about their product that are not true.