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Anthropic will reject a “final offer” to continue working with the US military, according to its head Dario Amodei, sparking a legal battle between one of America’s leading AI labs and the Pentagon.
The maker of a cloud AI model has refused to give the Defense Department free rein to use its technology, citing concerns over lethal autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summoned Amodei to Washington on Tuesday and demanded that Anthropic allow any legal use of its models by Friday or face being cut off from the Pentagon’s supply chain or having its technology co-opted.
“These threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accept their request,” Amodei wrote in a blog Thursday.
Anthropic is still hopeful of a deal, he said. “Given the substantial value that Anthropic’s technology provides to our armed forces, we hope they will reconsider,” Amodei said.
Pentagon officials wrote to Anthropic on Wednesday with a final proposal, according to people with knowledge of the matter. But Amodei said these conditions were unacceptable for his company, which describes itself as more responsible and focused on safety than its competitors.
“In a narrow set of cases, we believe AI may undermine democratic values rather than protect them. Some uses are even beyond the range of what today’s technology can safely and reliably do,” Amodei wrote.
“We stand ready to continue our work to support the national security of the United States,” he said.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The Department has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans (which is illegal), nor do we want to use AI to develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement,” Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, wrote on X earlier Thursday.
“We will not let any company dictate the terms on how it makes operational decisions,” he said.
If the Pentagon follows through on its ultimatum, Anthropic could be cut off from the US defense supply chain and the company could lose a $200 million contract it signed with the department last year.
The business consequences for the $380 billion company, which has partnered with Palantir and is the only AI lab whose models have been used in classified operations for the Pentagon, could be profound.
The supply chain risk designation could also potentially lead to a legal challenge from Anthropic, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Companies that have previously been considered supply chain risks under US law, such as China’s Huawei, have historically been from rival countries.
Alan Rosenstein, an associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota Law School and author on AI and the military, said the attack on Anthropic “is well outside the possible bounds of the law. I doubt Anthropic would have strong legal defenses if it were designated as a supply chain risk.”
Hegseth has also threatened to invoke the Defense Production Act, a Cold War-era measure that enables the president to regulate domestic industry in the national interest.
The DPA was used by Presidents Joe Biden and Trump to boost the manufacturing of medical supplies during the coronavirus pandemic and will allow the Pentagon to use Anthropic’s equipment without any contractual agreements.
