US defence secretary Pete Hegseth has threatened to cut Anthropic from his department’s supply chain unless it agrees to sign off on its technology being used in all lawful military applications by Friday.
The threat is the latest escalation in a feud between Anthropic and the department, triggered by the AI group’s refusal to give unfettered access to its models for classified military use, including domestic surveillance and deadly missions with no direct human control.
Hegseth summoned Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei to Washington for a meeting on Tuesday. During tense talks, the defence secretary threatened to cut the company out of the department’s supply chain or to invoke the Defense Production Act, a cold war-era measure enabling the president to control domestic industry in the interest of national defence, said a person with knowledge of the talks.