TLDR
- Defense officials are pressuring Anthropic to eliminate safety restrictions on Claude AI, enabling unrestricted lawful applications including weapons systems and surveillance operations.
- CEO Dario Amodei declined the demands, expressing concerns about potential threats to “democratic values.”
- The military has imposed a Friday 5pm ultimatum for Anthropic’s agreement or exclusion from defense partnerships.
- Defense officials warned of potential Defense Production Act enforcement and “supply chain risk” classification against Anthropic.
- New contractual terms delivered Wednesday evening were dismissed by Anthropic as showing “virtually no progress.”
The CEO of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, has taken a firm stance against removing protective measures from the company’s Claude artificial intelligence system, jeopardizing a significant government partnership. Military officials established a Friday cutoff point requiring Anthropic to accept “any lawful use” terms for its AI platform.
The conflict revolves around two primary issues: deploying Claude for widespread domestic monitoring operations and enabling completely autonomous weapon systems. According to Anthropic, neither application was included in original Pentagon agreements and shouldn’t be inserted at this stage.
Amodei conducted discussions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week. The conversation concluded without resolution, followed by the Pentagon delivering updated contractual provisions Wednesday evening.
The AI company dismissed the revised terms. An Anthropic representative characterized them as making “virtually no progress” while containing legal terminology that could allow protective measures to “be disregarded at will.”
Military officials have issued strong warnings. They’ve indicated plans to exclude Anthropic from military partnerships and classify the organization as a “supply chain risk” — a label normally applied to entities in adversarial countries.
A top Pentagon source informed Reuters that Secretary Hegseth might activate the Defense Production Act. This legislation enables the government to compel corporate participation in national security initiatives, regardless of corporate willingness. Legal scholars have raised questions about the legitimacy of such an application.
Anthropic’s Position on Military AI Applications
In a published statement, Amodei argued that current AI capabilities are “simply not reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons.” He emphasized that using them without human control endangers military personnel and civilians alike.
Regarding surveillance capabilities, he cautioned that artificial intelligence can “assemble scattered, individually innocuous data into a comprehensive picture of any person’s life — automatically and at massive scale.”
Anthropic expressed support for AI applications in legitimate foreign intelligence operations while opposing domestic surveillance programs.
Defense officials countered these concerns, with Undersecretary Emil Michael asserting that Anthropic’s feared applications are already prohibited under existing law and military regulations. Michael directly challenged Amodei on X, claiming he “wants nothing more than to try to personally control the US Military.”
Financial Implications for Anthropic
The economic consequences are substantial. Military officials have established $200 million contract ceiling arrangements with leading AI developers including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google throughout the previous year.
Receiving a supply chain risk designation would prevent defense industry partners like Lockheed Martin from incorporating Anthropic’s technology into Pentagon initiatives. The defense contractor ecosystem encompasses approximately 60,000 companies.
Amodei indicated Anthropic proposed collaborating with military officials on research initiatives to enhance AI dependability for defense applications, though this proposal was rejected.
As of Thursday evening, negotiations remained deadlocked with the 5:01 p.m. Friday deadline unchanged.
