Pentagon threatens to terminate partnership with Anthropic over AI safeguards dispute: Axios

issued Sunday, February 15, 2026 · 12:24 PM

The Pentagon is considering severing its relationship with artificial intelligence company Anthropic over the company’s insistence on maintaining certain restrictions on how its models are used by the U.S. military, Axios reported on Saturday (February 14), citing government officials.

According to the Axios report, the Pentagon wants the four AI companies to allow the military to use their tools for “all lawful purposes,” including areas such as weapons development, intelligence gathering, and battlefield operations, but Anthropic has not agreed to those terms and the Pentagon has tired of them after months of negotiations.

Other companies included OpenAI, Google, and xAI.

An Anthropic spokesperson said the company has not discussed the use of its AI model, Claude, with the Department of Defense in specific operations.

The spokesperson said previous conversations with the U.S. government have focused on specific questions about usage policy, such as fully autonomous weapons and strict limits on domestic mass surveillance, none of which are related to current operations.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

Related items

navigating asia
new world order

Get insights delivered to your inbox.

Anthropic’s AI model Claude was used in the U.S. military operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, deployed through a partnership between Anthropic and data company Palantir. wall street journal It was reported on Friday.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that the Pentagon is pressuring top AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic to make their artificial intelligence tools available on classified networks without imposing many of the standard restrictions that companies apply to their users. Reuters