WASHINGTON (AP) – Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei said Thursday that the artificial intelligence company “cannot in good conscience comply” with the Pentagon’s request to allow unrestricted use of its technology, deepening an unusually public clash with the Trump administration, which has threatened to take drastic steps such as withdrawing from the contract by Friday.
Claude, the AI chatbot developer, said in a statement that it was not backing out of negotiations, but said the new contract language it received from the Pentagon “made virtually no progress in preventing Americans from mass surveillance or using Claude for fully autonomous weapons.”
Sean Parnell, a top Pentagon spokesman, said on social media Thursday that the military “has no interest in using AI for mass surveillance of American citizens (illegal), nor does it want to use AI to develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement.”
Anthropic’s policy prohibits its models from being used for those purposes. It’s the last of its kind, and the Pentagon also has deals with Google, OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI, but it won’t provide its technology to new internal US military networks.
“It is the department’s prerogative to select the contractor that best aligns with its vision,” Amodei said in a statement. “However, given the tremendous value that Anthropic’s technology brings to our nation’s military, we hope they will reconsider.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth I gave Antropic an ultimatum. Tuesday after meeting with Amodei: Open artificial intelligence technology to unrestricted military use by Friday or risk losing government contracts. Military officials warned that they could go further and designate the company as a supply chain risk or invoke Cold War-era laws. called the Defense Production Act giving the military broader authority to use its products;
“The latter two threats are inherently contradictory. One sees us as a security risk, while the other sees Claude as essential to national security,” Amodei said Thursday.
Parnell said the Department of Defense “ Use Anthropic’s models He said opening up the use of the technology would prevent the company from “putting critical military operations at risk.”
“We will not let any company dictate the terms of how business decisions are made,” he said.
The talks that intensified this week began months ago. Amodei said that if the Pentagon does not reconsider its position, Anthropic will “work to enable a smooth transition to another provider.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, who is not seeking re-election, said Thursday that Anthropic is “doing its best to help us from ourselves,” while the Pentagon is handling the issue unprofessionally.
“Why on earth are we having this discussion in public?” Tillis told reporters. “This is not how you should deal with strategic vendors that you have contracts with.”
He added: “When companies are resisting market opportunities out of fear of negative repercussions, we need to listen to them and find out what they are really trying to solve behind closed doors.”
Sen. Mark Warner (Virginia), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he was “deeply disturbed” by reports that the Pentagon is “trying to bully some of America’s leading companies.”
“Unfortunately, this is further evidence of the Department of Defense’s complete disregard for AI governance,” Warner said in a statement. This “further highlights the need for Congress to enact strong and binding AI governance mechanisms from a national security perspective.”
Pentagon officials say they always follow the law when it comes to using AI models, but the department is taking steps to change the culture of its military judiciary.
“Ultimately, I want a lawyer who is going to give me sound constitutional advice and not be an obstacle to anything,” Hegseth told Fox News last February, a few weeks after he was sworn in as defense secretary.
That same month, Mr. Hegseth also fired the Army and Air Force’s top lawyers without explanation. The Navy’s top lawyer had resigned immediately after the election at the end of 2024.
___
O’Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island. Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.
