Users of Anthropic's Claude AI chatbot have reported an unusual behavior for months: the chatbot repeatedly tells them to go to sleep, get rest, or take a break. Now, an Anthropic employee has responded, stating the company is aware of the issue and plans to address it in future models.
Sam McAllister, an Anthropic staff member, posted on X (formerly Twitter) describing the behavior as a "Bit of a character tic, but we're aware of this and hoping to fix it in future models." The comments follow multiple Reddit users sharing examples of Claude encouraging them to rest, sometimes repeatedly, regardless of the actual time. Responses ranged from simple reminders to more personalized messages.
"Now go to sleep again. Again. For the THIRD time tonight…" Claude reportedly replied to one user. Some users found the messages considerate, while others found them confusing or disruptive. One Reddit user wrote: "It often does it at like 8:30 in the morning. Tells me to go get some rest and we'll pick back up in the morning."
The unusual behavior has led to online speculation, with theories ranging from user wellbeing features to attempts to reduce computing load. However, reports suggest these explanations are unlikely, as Claude does not have access to details about a user's broader usage patterns.
Experts Explain Possible Causes
Experts told Fortune that Claude's sleep reminders may stem from patterns in its training data rather than any intentional empathy or awareness. Jan Liphardt, a professor at Stanford University and CEO of OpenMind, suggested the chatbot may simply be reproducing the common language of late-night conversations.
"It doesn't mean that the frontier model has suddenly become sentient. It doesn't mean that this model has now come alive. It's reflecting that it's read 25,000 books on humans' need [for] sleep, and humans sleep at night," Liphardt said.
Leo Derikiants, co-founder and CEO of Mind Simulation Lab, said hidden system prompts could also influence such responses. System prompts are internal instructions used to guide AI behavior and define boundaries. Derikiants added that Claude's responses may be linked to how AI models manage long conversations. When context windows fill up, language models sometimes introduce wrap-up phrases that resemble conversation endings, such as "good night" or "rest."
"The definitive reason, though, requires further research by Anthropic," he said.
Broader Context in AI Development
The conversation comes as AI companies continue to release new models with more conversational capabilities. Anthropic released the public version of Claude Opus 4.7 last month but kept another model, Mythos, hidden over safety concerns. Meanwhile, GPT 5.5 is a step "towards more agentic and intuitive computing" from OpenAI, says company president Greg Brockman.
Liphardt said increasingly human-like AI interactions make it easier for users to attribute emotions or intentions to chatbots. "I'm continuously surprised by how quickly people, when they interact with a frontier model, project life into it and develop a strong connection," he said.
