Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei he said Thursday that “he cannot in good conscience accept [the Pentagon’s] request’ to give the military unrestricted access to its artificial intelligence systems.
“Anthropic understands that the Department of War, not private companies, makes military decisions,” Amodei wrote in a statement. “However, in a narrow set of cases, we believe that AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values. Some uses are also simply outside the bounds of what today’s technology can do safely and reliably.”
The two cases are: mass surveillance of Americans and fully autonomous weapons without a human in the loop. The Pentagon he believes should be able to use Anthropic’s model for all lawful purposes and that its uses should not be dictated by a private company.
Amodei’s statement comes less than 24 hours before Friday’s 5:01 p.m. deadline. that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic to either acquiesce to his demands or face the consequences. The Defense Department tried to force Amodei’s hand either by labeling Anthropic a supply chain risk — a designation reserved for foreign adversaries — or by invoking the Defense Production Act and effectively forcing the company to do its bidding. The DPA gives the president the power to force companies to prioritize or expand production for national defense.
Amodei pointed out the contradiction in these two threats. “One characterizes us as a security risk; the other characterizes Claude as essential to national security.”
He added that it is the Department’s prerogative to select contractors that are most aligned with its vision, “but given the substantial value Anthropic’s technology provides to our armed forces, we hope they will reconsider.”
Anthropic is currently the only frontier AI lab with classified systems for the military, though the DOD is reportedly readying xAI for the job.
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“Our strong preference is to continue to serve the Ministry and our warriors – having our two requested safeguards,” Amodei said. “If the Department chooses to exit Anthropic, we will work to enable a smooth transition to another provider, avoiding any disruption to ongoing military planning, operations or other critical missions.”
TLDR, he says: “We can just part ways. No need to be nasty about it.”
