Anthropic CEO To Meet US Defence Secretary In "Not Friendly" Showdown

Dario Amodei, CEO of AI firm Anthropic, is set to meet US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday, amid rising tensions between the Pentagon and the artificial intelligence company over military use of technology.

The meeting comes at a crucial time for both sides. Contract negotiations between Anthropic and the US Department of Defense have stalled over the company's demand for strict safeguards on its AI systems, according to Axios.

"Anthropic knows this is not a get-to-know-you meeting," a senior Defense official told Axios. "This is not a friendly meeting. This is a sh*t-or-get-off-the-pot meeting."

Anthropic wants strong guardrails such as clear limits on how its AI tools can be used in military operations and assurances that the technology will not be deployed in ways that violate the company's safety and ethical standards.

The Defense Department, however, has signaled that it wants the flexibility to use the company's AI tools for "all lawful use cases," without additional limitations imposed by the firm.

Claude, the AI model built by Anthropic, is currently the only advanced AI system operating inside the US military's classified networks. Because of this, the Pentagon does not want to lose access to Claude. It plays an important role in military and intelligence operations.

"We are having productive conversations, in good faith, with the Pentagon on how to continue that work and get these complex issues right," the company's spokesperson said, reported Bloomberg.

Anthropic has built its reputation on promoting AI safety and ethics. One of the big principles the company sticks to is that Claude shouldn't be used to create fully autonomous weapons or conduct mass surveillance of people. But now the Pentagon is pushing back.

The tensions between the two sides became more visible after reports that Claude was used in a US military operation that helped capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

It's not clear exactly how Claude was used in that mission, but the reports raised questions about whether Anthropic's safety rules were followed and if the company fully supports its tools being involved in such operations.

"Claude is used for a wide variety of intelligence-related use cases across the government, including by the Defence Department, in line with the company's usage policy," the company said.

At the same time, the Pentagon has described Anthropic as a "supply chain risk" and said that the Defense Department could cancel Anthropic's existing contracts. Last year, the company was awarded a contract worth up to $200 million by the department.