Anthropic inadvertently caused the removal of thousands of code repositories on GitHub while seeking to eliminate copies of its source code linked to its flagship product.
On Tuesday, a software engineer uncovered that Anthropic, unintentionally, had made the source code for its leading Claude Code command line application accessible in a recent release. This inadvertently leaked code attracted the attention of AI enthusiasts who explored its contents, looking for insights into the underlying large language model (LLM) that powers the application, subsequently sharing it on GitHub.
In response, Anthropic submitted a takedown notice based on U.S. digital copyright law, requesting GitHub to remove repositories containing the compromised code. GitHub's records indicated that this notice was enacted against approximately 8,100 repositories, which included legitimate forks of Anthropic’s own publicly available Claude Code repository, as highlighted by frustrated users on social media whose projects were impacted.
Boris Cherny, head of Claude Code at Anthropic, stated that the action was unintentional and confirmed that the majority of the takedown notices have been retracted. The company has restricted its actions to one repository along with 96 forks that contained the accidentally released source code.
“The repo named in the notice was part of a fork network connected to our own public Claude Code repo, so the takedown reached more repositories than intended,” an Anthropic spokesperson communicated to TechCrunch. “We have retracted the notice for everything except the one repo we identified, and GitHub has restored access to the impacted forks.”
This mismanaged cleanup further complicates matters for the company, particularly as it reportedly prepares for an initial public offering (IPO), a process that demands meticulous attention to operational execution and legal compliance. The public disclosure of source code by a company seeking to become publicly traded could indeed incite shareholder lawsuits.
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