AI model Claude, developed by Anthropic, was used by the US military during the operation to kidnap Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela, Wall Street Journal revealed On Saturday it became a high-profile example of how the US Defense Department is using artificial intelligence in its operations.
The US attack on Venezuela resulted in the bombing of the capital Caracas and killed 83 people, according to the Venezuelan Defense Ministry. Anthropic’s terms of use prohibit the use of the cloud for violent purposes, weapons development or surveillance operations.
Anthropic was the first AI developer known to be used in classified operations by the US Department of Defense. It was not clear how the tool, which has capabilities ranging from processing PDFs to piloting autonomous drones, was deployed.
A spokesperson for Anthropic declined to comment on whether the cloud was used in the operation, but said any use of the AI ​​tool was required to comply with its usage policies. The US Defense Department did not comment on the claims.
The WSJ, citing unnamed sources, said Cloud was used through Anthropic’s partnership with Palantir Technologies, a contractor for the US Department of Defense and federal law enforcement agencies. Palantir declined to comment on the claims.
The US and other militaries are increasingly deploying AI as part of their arsenal. Israel’s military has used drones with autonomous capabilities in Gaza and has used AI extensively to replenish its targeting bank in Gaza. The US military has used AI targeting for strikes in Iraq and Syria in recent years.
Critics have warned against the use of AI in weapons technologies and the deployment of autonomous weapons systems, pointing to targeting mistakes made by computers that control who should be killed and who should not.
As AI companies grapple with how their technologies should integrate with the defense sector, Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, has called for regulation to prevent harm from AI deployment. Amodei has also expressed concern over the use of AI in autonomous lethal operations and surveillance in the US.
This more cautious stance has apparently irked the US Defense Department, with the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, saying in January that the department “will not employ AI models that will not allow you to fight a war”.
The Pentagon announced in January that it would be working with xAI, owned by Elon Musk. The Department of Defense also uses a custom version of Google’s Gemini and OpenAI systems to support research.
