The Pentagon has given artificial intelligence company Anthropic a Friday deadline to release its technology for unrestricted military use or face drastic action, including being labeled a supply chain risk and being forced to comply under emergency federal powers, media reports said Tuesday.
The move came after U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to discuss the months-long dispute.
The conflict began after Anthropic refused to use its Claude models for domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons systems in the United States.
Department of Defense’s Ultimatum to Humanity
Anthropic continues to raise ethical concerns about the unchecked use of AI by governments.
The Associated Press, citing people familiar with Tuesday’s meeting, said the meeting between Hegseth and Amodei was amicable.
But the official added that Anthropic struggled in the face of pressure from the Pentagon on two areas: fully autonomous military targeting operations and the use of tools for domestic mass surveillance of American citizens.
“We continued to have good faith discussions about usage policies to ensure that Anthropic can continue to support the government’s national security mission consistent with what our model can do reliably and responsibly,” the AI company said in a statement.
But later reports said the Pentagon gave Anthropic an ultimatum: it had until 5pm (23:00 CET) on Friday to agree to loosen military use restrictions or face forced compliance under the Defense Production Act, which gives the federal government broad powers to direct private industry to prioritize national security needs.
Sources said action against Anthropic could also include other options, such as designating its AI lab as a supply chain risk.
This label is typically restricted to companies in rival countries and could seriously damage the company’s ability to operate within the U.S. government.
US military adopts AI
The Department of Defense is negotiating AI contracts with a number of large language model providers that will determine the future of the application of artificial intelligence models in war zones.
Last year, the Pentagon announced it was awarding defense contracts to four AI companies, including Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, and Elon Musk’s xAI.
Each contract has a value of up to $200 million (€169 million).
Editor: Dmytro Hubenko
