Anthropic CEO Holds Position as Pentagon Decision Deadline Approaches

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said Thursday that he “cannot in good conscience accede to [the Pentagon’s] request” to grant the military unrestricted access to the company’s AI systems.

“Anthropic understands that the Department of War, not private companies, makes military decisions,” Amodei wrote in a statement. “However, in a narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values. Some uses are also simply outside the bounds of what today’s technology can safely and reliably do.”

Amodei pointed to two specific areas where he says the company draws a firm line: mass surveillance of Americans and fully autonomous weapons with no human in the loop. The Pentagon’s position, as described, is that it should be able to use Anthropic’s model for any lawful purpose and that a private company should not be setting limits on how the military employs the technology.

The statement arrives less than 24 hours before a Friday 5:01 p.m. deadline that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has reportedly set for Anthropic to either accept the demands or face consequences. An Anthropic spokesperson said Amodei’s remarks do not signal that the company is exiting talks, and that Anthropic intends to keep negotiating in good faith with the Department.

“The contract language we received overnight from the Department of War made virtually no progress on preventing Claude’s use for mass surveillance of Americans or in fully autonomous weapons,” an Anthropic spokesperson said. “New language framed as a compromise was paired with legalese that would allow those safeguards to be disregarded at will. Despite DOW’s recent public statements, these narrow safeguards have been the crux of our negotiations for months.”

The Department of Defence has also reportedly sought to pressure Amodei by threatening to label Anthropic a supply chain risk—a designation typically reserved for foreign adversaries—or by invoking the Defence Production Act, which could compel the company to prioritise or expand output for national defence. The DPA authorises the president to require companies to support defence-related needs.

Amodei highlighted what he called an inconsistency between the two threats. “One labels us a security risk; the other labels Claude as essential to national security.”

He added that the Department has the right to choose contractors that best match its preferred approach, “but given the substantial value that Anthropic’s technology provides to our armed forces, we hope they reconsider.”

Anthropic is currently described as the only frontier AI lab with classified-ready systems available for military use. However, the DOD is reportedly working to bring xAI up to speed on similar work.

“Our strong preference is to continue to serve the Department and our warfighters—with our two requested safeguards in place,” Amodei said. “Should the Department choose to offboard Anthropic, we will work to enable a smooth transition to another provider, avoiding any disruption to ongoing military planning, operations, or other critical missions.”

TLDR: He’s essentially saying, “If we can’t agree on these safeguards, we can part ways—there’s no need to turn this into a fight.”