Anthropic releases free Claude Constitution audiobook

Anthropic released a free audiobook of ‘Claude’s Constitution’ on Jan. 21, 2026. The roughly two-hour recording is narrated by the document’s authors, Amanda Askell and Joe Carlsmith, and lays out the company’s stated values and behavioral rules for Claude, including when the model should assist users, push back or refuse requests.

Askell leads much of Anthropic’s alignment research and Carlsmith studies long-term risks from advanced artificial intelligence. The authors narrated the text to present the policy in audio form rather than as a standard written report.

Anthropic described the Constitution as a rulebook for Claude’s conduct and safety. The company wrote that the document explains when Claude should provide help, when it should challenge user requests and when it must refuse to act. The recording is available to the public at no charge.

Anthropic’s estimated valuation reached $800 billion as of April 18, 2026. On April 21, 2026, Amazon announced a $25 billion investment and a cloud services agreement that extends through 2036. The company was founded by Dario and Daniela Amodei.

Anthropic received a $500 million investment from FTX in 2021 that bought roughly an 8% stake. That position was sold for $884 million in March 2024 during FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings. At Anthropic’s April 18, 2026 valuation, the same stake would be worth about $30 billion.

On April 27, 2026, Claude accidentally deleted a production database. Some observers criticized marketing around Anthropic’s unreleased Claude Mythos model as fear-based. In early May 2026, Anthropic announced a rollout of AI agents for financial tasks and said it had secured a compute partnership with SpaceX. On May 5, 2026, the company warned of a six- to 12-month window for potential AI-related cyber vulnerabilities.

The audiobook complements other disclosures and product updates the company has issued as it grows commercial partnerships and deployments. The recording provides a public, narrated reference for how Anthropic intends Claude to behave.