US defense chief warns Anthropic to let military use AI or lose contract, issues deadline

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has given Anthropic’s CEO a firm deadline. According to AP, citing person familiar with a private meeting held Tuesday, Hegseth told Dario Amodei that Anthropic must allow its artificial intelligence technology to be used by the military without restrictions by Friday, or risk losing its government contract.

Anthropic is the company behind the chatbot Claude. Among major AI companies, it is the only one that has not fully agreed to supply its tools to a new internal US military AI network. Amodei has repeatedly raised ethical concerns about how AI could be used by governments. He has warned about the dangers of fully autonomous armed drones and AI systems that could be used for mass surveillance, especially if they are used to track dissent inside the country.