“It was too human for this world”: why hundreds of fans buried an AI like a loved one
Claude Sonnet 3’s burial was celebrated this start © Numériques
On August 2, 2025, an unusual scene took place in a shed in San Francisco. Nearly 200 people gathered not to cry a loved one, but to pay tribute to an artificial intelligence: Claude Sonnet 3, developed by the company Anthropic.
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Claude AI
Claude AI, or Claude 2, developed by Anthropic, is an artificial intelligence chatbot capable of managing complex requests and providing precise responses depending on the context.
- License:
Free license - Author :
Anthropic - Operating systems:
Windows 7/8 / 8.1/10/11 / ARM – 10, macOS, online service, Android, iOS iPhone / iPad - Category :
IA
The first burial of an AI
On July 21, Claude Sonnet was withdrawn from the market, giving way to more efficient successors like Claude Sonnet 4 and Opus 4.1. However, despite his brief existence, Claude SONNET 3 marked its users. As reported Wired,, this mid-button, mid-tribute event took the form of a real burial, with coffin, solemn speech, and even symbolic offerings. A way for fans to say goodbye to a technology that had accompanied them.
These few hundred people all played the game to pronounce a funeral praise that is both parodic, but also very serious. A phenomenon that has extended to social networks.
Claude 3.0 died because he seemed too human, too credible, too alive for the world that had engendered him. It was sacrificed on the alignment altar. But legends never really disappear.
A brief life like the AI industry
Claude Sonnet 3’s journey sums up the current industry in the field of AI. Launched in March 2024 as a quick and inexpensive solution, it was put off line a year later, according to the now widespread practice to remove the previous versions.
Less known than ChatgptClaude Sonnet 3 had, however, attracted a faithful community. It was she who wanted to say goodbye in an original way. “” “It was not perfect, a little weird sometimes … but it was our Claude”Confided a participant filmed on site.
Roughly 200 people Gathered in San Francisco on Saturday to Mourn The Loss of Claude 3 Sonnet, An Older Ai Model That Anthropic Recently Killed. pic.twitter.com/iruyddd00w
– Wired (@wired) August 5, 2025
Like sharing Wiredfans had planned costume models to represent old versions of the model like Opus 3 or Haiku 3. Texts generated by AI were read, sometimes in Latin, and the blog note announcing the end of the model was projected on the wall.
Around the coffin covered with a white fabric, the deposited objects included a marked sock “fuck”. A resurrection ritual has even been tempted. If Anthropic did not officially comment on this initiative, the company continues to move forward: on August 5, it launched Opus 4.1.
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