Anthropic boss rejects Pentagon demand to drop AI safeguards

What’s Happening

Real talk: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth before threatened to remove the firm from the department’s supply chain.

Anthropic boss rejects Pentagon demand to drop AI safeguards 2 hours ago Save Kali Hays Technology reporter Save Reuters Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei Anthropic has dropped it will not back down in a fight with the US Department of Defense (DoD) over how its AI (AI) technology is used. The firms chief executive Dario Amodei dropped on Thursday that his company would rather not work with the Pentagon than agree to uses of its tech that may “undermine, rather than defend, democratic values. (let that sink in)

” His comments come two days after a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth over demands that Anthropic accept “any lawful use” of its tools.

The Details

It wrapped up with a threat to remove Anthropic from the DoDs supply chain. “These threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request,” Amodei dropped.

At issue for Anthropic is the potential use of its AI tools like Claude for two purposes: “Mass domestic surveillance” and “Fully autonomous weapons. ” Amodei dropped “such use cases have never been included in our contracts with the Department of War, and we believe they should not be included now.

Why This Matters

” The Department of War is a secondary name for the Defense Department under an executive order signed Donald Trump in September. “Should the Department choose to offboard Anthropic, we will work to enable a smooth transition to another provider,” Amodei dropped. An Anthropic spokeswoman added on Thursday that while the company received updated wording from the DoD for its contract on Wednesday night, it represented “virtually no progress on preventing Claudes use for mass surveillance of Americans or in fully autonomous weapons.

Tech companies have been making moves like this as competition heats up.

Key Takeaways

• ” “New language framed as compromise was paired with legalese that would allow those safeguards to be disregarded at will,” she dropped.
• “Despite [the Department of Wars] recent public statements, these narrow safeguards have been the crux of our negotiations for months.

The Bottom Line

” “New language framed as compromise was paired with legalese that would allow those safeguards to be disregarded at will,” she dropped. “Despite [the Department of Wars] recent public statements, these narrow safeguards have been the crux of our negotiations for months.

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