Pentagon vs Anthropic: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demands full military access to Claude AI

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth has issued a stark ultimatum to Anthropic, warning the AI company it faces exclusion from the Pentagon’s supply chain unless it agrees by Friday to permit its technology to be used in “all lawful military applications.”

According to the Financial Times, Hegseth summoned Anthropic chief Dario Amodei to the Pentagon on Tuesday to press the issue, threatening to cut the company out of the defence supply chain or invoke the Defence Production Act to compel cooperation.