Anthropic insists on limits on how its technology
is used and could be labeled a supply chain risk if it
fails to accept the military’s demands.
Key Highlights
·
Ultimatum
Issued: Pentagon
ordered Anthropic to comply with demands by Friday, 5:01 p.m. or face consequences
under the Defense Production Act (DPA).
·
Contradictory
Threats:
o
Label
Anthropic a supply chain risk (blocking contracts).
o
Compel
Anthropic to provide its AI model for military use.
Core Dispute
·
Anthropic
seeks assurances its AI won’t be used for:
o
Mass
surveillance of Americans.
o
Autonomous
weapons without human oversight.
·
Pentagon
insists contractors cannot dictate usage beyond lawful purposes.
Meeting Details
·
Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth met Anthropic CEO Dario
Amodei on Tuesday.
·
Tone
was civil, but threats followed when demands weren’t met.
·
Anthropic
continues good-faith talks, but stands firm on ethical safeguards.
Context & Comparisons
·
Anthropic’s Claude Gov model is considered superior to xAI’s Grok.
·
Pentagon
also negotiating with Google (Gemini) for classified integration.
·
Palantir
reported tensions after alleged miscommunication regarding a Venezuela operation;
Amodei denied interference.
Expert View
·
Legal
experts warn Pentagon is stretching national security tools into leverage
for business.
·
Use
of DPA on a software company would be highly unusual.
Strategic Importance
·
Anthropic
is the first AI firm on classified military systems.
·
Pentagon
sees unrestricted access as vital for operational flexibility.
·
Debate
highlights tension between AI ethics and national security imperatives.
[ABS News Service/27.02.2026]
The Pentagon delivered an ultimatum to Anthropic, the only artificial
intelligence company currently operating on classified military systems, ordering
the firm to bend to its demands by Friday.
If the firm fails to agree by 5:01 p.m. on Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said
the Trump administration would invoke the Defense Production
Act, compelling the use of its model by the military and labeling
the company a supply chain risk, according to a senior Pentagon official. That step
would put Anthropic’s government contracts at risk.
The two threats are fundamentally at odds: One would prevent
the government from using the company’s products, while the other would force the
company to let the government use the products.
Despite the contradiction, the threats reflect the level of
anger in the top ranks of the Pentagon toward Anthropic for resisting its demands
and how important the company’s model has become to the military.
“The Pentagon knows they are issuing an extreme threat. They
are using every button or lever they have,” said Jessica Tillipman,
an associate dean at the George Washington University Law School. “The bigger issue
here is that it waters down these designations. They are
transforming what is designed to be national security tools into a point of leverage
for business.”
Mr. Hegseth summoned Dario Amodei, the Anthropic chief executive, to the Pentagon on Tuesday
for a morning meeting. The tone of the discussion was civil, but when Anthropic
did not agree to Mr. Hegseth’s demands, he leveled the threats against it, according to people briefed
on the meeting.
The New York Times spoke to people on both sides of the debate
over Anthropic’s work with the military, but they spoke
on the condition that their names not be used to discuss the sensitive negotiations.
Anthropic has argued that it was asking for reasonable assurances
that its model would not be used for surveillance of Americans or in autonomous
weapons, such as drone operations, that did not involve human oversight.
Anthropic’s supporters have contended that the company
is being punished for being first on the classified system and creating a special
model, Claude Gov, that does not have the same guardrails and restrictions that
their models available to the public have.
Pentagon officials have said that using software and weapons
lawfully is their responsibility, one they take seriously. But the officials say
they cannot effectively allow all their contractors to specify how the equipment
they sell to the Pentagon will be used, and that lawful use must be the only constraint.
While the Defense Production Act gives
the Pentagon wide-ranging powers, it is usually invoked in manufacturing contexts.
It would be unusual for the act to be used on a software company, forcing Anthropic
to make its product available for free.
An Anthropic spokesman said that the company had continued good-faith
conversations in the meeting at the Pentagon. The spokesman said the company wanted
to support the government but needed to ensure that its models were used in line
with what they could “reliably and responsibly do.”
But the senior Pentagon official rejected those demands and
said the debate had nothing to do with those issues. The Pentagon wants all artificial
intelligence contracts to stipulate that the military can use the models for any
lawful purpose.
The official confirmed that the Pentagon has an agreement with
Elon Musk’s company xAI to use its artificial intelligence
model, Grok, on the classified system. But it will take time to integrate Grok onto
classified cloud servers and into software from Palantir, a data analytics company
that the military uses. More important, Anthropic’s Claude
is considered a superior product to Grok, regularly yielding more accurate information.
The Pentagon also is close to an agreement with Google to bring
its Gemini model onto the classified system, but the senior official said the deal
was not complete.
A person briefed on the meeting said Anthropic would continue
to demand assurances that its models are not used for autonomous weapons programs
or mass surveillance.
Pentagon officials took issue with Anthropic after Palantir
reported a conversation that one of its employees had had with a counterpart at
the artificial intelligence company regarding the U.S. military operation last month
to capture President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.
In the meeting on Tuesday, Mr. Amodei
said there had been a misunderstanding and that his company had not reached out
to Palantir or the Pentagon about the Maduro operation, according to a person briefed
on the meeting.
Mr. Amodei insisted his company had
never objected to or interfered with legitimate military operations.