The Pentagon pushed AI companies to allow the US military to use the technology for “all legitimate purposes,” but Anthropic backed down, according to it a new report in Axios.
The government has reportedly made similar demands to OpenAI, Google, and xAI. An anonymous Trump administration official told Axios that one of the companies has agreed, while the other two are expected to show some flexibility.
Anthropic, meanwhile, has been reported to be the most resistant. In response, the Pentagon apparently threatened to pull the plug on a $200 million contract with the AI company.
In January, reported the Wall Street Journal that there is significant disagreement between Anthropic and Defense Department officials about how Claude’s model should work. WSJ then said Claude is used in US military operations to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Anthropic did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
A company spokesperson told Axios that the company “does not discuss the use of Claude for special operations with the War Department” but is “focused on some specific Use Policy questions — namely, our hard limits on fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance.”