AI firm Anthropic has said it will not comply with a Pentagon demand to strip safety guardrails from its Claude model, after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to cancel a $200m contract and label the company a "supply chain risk." CEO Dario Amodei said the company remains willing to support US national security, but only with safeguards in place.
At the center of the dispute is the military's request for unrestricted, lawful use of Claude, including potential deployment in autonomous weapons and domestic surveillance. Anthropic has refused to allow such applications, arguing the technology is not safe or reliable enough for those roles.
The standoff tests Anthropic's reputation as one of the AI sector's most safety-focused players. Losing the Pentagon contract (and being formally designated a supply chain risk) could severely limit the company's ability to work with other US defence partners...