Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is pushing for a compromise with the Pentagon after a bitter dispute that put the AI company at risk of being blacklisted by the US government.
The Financial Times said Amodei held emergency talks with officials, including Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emile Michael, to reach an agreement governing military access to Anthropic’s AI models.
If successful, the Pentagon could continue deploying the company’s technology, effectively cutting Anthropic out of defense contracts and avoiding designation as a supply chain risk that would force military contractors to sever ties with the San Francisco-based AI company.
After the US operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January, reports surfaced that Anthropic employees discovered through Palantir logs that Claude was used during the operation.
This application raises questions regarding its compliance with Anthropic’s Terms of Use.
The company’s reluctance to use its AI for fully autonomous weapons or mass surveillance led to a dramatic collapse in negotiations with the Pentagon.
The department is seeking broader permissions to use AI for “legitimate” purposes, but anthropological concerns could allow for surveillance uses, which the department opposes.
After Mr. Amodei rejected the government’s ultimatum, President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s technology, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated the company as a national security supply chain risk.
Amodei accused the Department of Defense and OpenAI of misrepresenting the issue. He also suggested that Anthropic may have been sidelined in part because it hasn’t praised Trump as enthusiastically as its rivals.
Anthropic, along with OpenAI, Google, and xAI, has signed a Department of Defense contract worth up to $200 million to advance agent AI for military use. For a company that has established itself as a leader in AI safety, losing that footing would be a major setback.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. Please see our Editorial Policy for more information on how we create and review content.
