Anthropic CEO stands firm as Pentagon deadline approaches

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said Thursday that he “cannot in good conscience agree to this.” [the Pentagon’s] He “requested” that the military be given unrestricted access to its artificial intelligence systems.

“Anthropic recognizes 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 could undermine rather than defend democratic values. And some uses are simply beyond 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 any human being in the loop. The Pentagon believes that it should be able to use the Anthropic Model for all legitimate purposes, and that its uses should not be dictated by a private company.

Amodei’s statement comes less than 24 hours before Defense Minister Pete Hegseth’s Friday 5:01pm deadline for Anthropic to either agree to his demands or face the consequences. The Defense Department has tried to force Amodei’s hand by either labeling Anthropic a supply chain risk — a designation reserved for foreign adversaries — or invoking the Defense Production Act and effectively forcing the company to do its bidding. The Darfur Peace Agreement gives the president the power to force companies to prioritize or expand production for national defense purposes.

Amodei pointed out the contradiction in these two threats. “One classifies us as security risks; the other describes Claude as essential to national security.”

He added that the ministry has the right to choose contractors that are most aligned with its vision, “but given the great value that Anthropic technology provides to our armed forces, we hope that they will reconsider.”

Anthropic is currently the only frontier AI laboratory with systems ready for use in the military, although the Department of Defense is preparing XAI for the mission.

“We strongly prefer to continue serving the department and our warfighters – with the two required safeguards in place,” Amodei said. “If the Department chooses to retire Anthropic, we will enable a smooth transition to another provider, avoiding any disruption to ongoing military planning, operations, or other critical missions.”

TLDR, “We can just part ways,” he says. There is no need to be bad about it.