Hegseth issues ultimatum to Anthropic to let military use co's AI tech as it sees fit

Washington: The Pentagon has delivered an ultimatum to Anthropic, the only AI company currently operating on classified military systems, ordering the firm to bend to its demands by Friday.

If the firm fails to agree by 5.01pm Friday (local time), defence secretary Pete Hegseth said that the Trump administration would invoke the Defense Production Act, compelling the use of its model by the military and labelling the company a supply chain risk, according to a senior Pentagon official. That step would put Anthropic's govt contracts at risk. The two threats are fundamentally at odds: one would prevent the govt from using the company's products, while the other would force the company to let the govt use the products.Despite the contradiction, the threats reflect the level of anger in the top ranks of the Pentagon toward Anthropic for resisting its demands and how important the company's model has become to the military. Hegseth summoned Dario Amodei, Anthropic's CEO, to the Pentagon on Tuesday for a meeting. The tone of the discussion was civil, but when Anthropic did not agree to Hegseth's demands, he levelled the threats against it, according to people briefed on the meeting.

Anthropic has argued that it was asking for reasonable assurances that its model would not be used for surveillance of Americans or in autonomous weapons, such as drone operations, that did not involve human oversight. Anthropic's supporters have contended that the company is being punished for being first on the classified system and creating a special model, Claude Gov, that does not have the same guardrails and restrictions that their models available to the public have.

Pentagon officials have said using software and weapons lawfully is their responsibility, one they take seriously. But the officials say they cannot effectively allow all their contractors to specify how the equipment they sell to the Pentagon will be used. While the Defense Production Act gives the Pentagon wide-ranging powers, it is usually invoked in manufacturing contexts. It would be unusual for the act to be used on a software company, forcing Anthropic to make its product available for free. An Anthropic spokesperson said the company wanted to support the govt but needed to ensure its models were used in line with what they could "reliably and responsibly do."