Hegseth Reportedly Gives Anthropic Ultimatum in Demand to Drop Mass Surveillance AI Safeguards

(Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)

Trump Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly gave Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei an ultimatum this week: to either give him total access to its AI model or “face harsh penalties,” according to a Tuesday Axios report.

Hegseth’s threat comes with a Friday deadline and could result in the Amazon-backed AI giant being declared a “supply chain risk.”

Hegseth’s team has apparently gone so far as to even raise the prospect of using the “Defense Production Act to force the company to tailor its model to the military’s needs,” added Axios reporting.

The nasty feud between Anthropic and the Pentagon is reportedly over the fact that the company refuses to “allow its model to be used for the mass surveillance of Americans or the development of weapons that fire without human involvement.”

“The only reason we’re still talking to these people is we need them and we need them now. The problem for these guys is they are that good,” a Pentagon official told Axios, ahead of contentious meeting between Anthropic leadership and top military brass. Axios explained that the tensions began in the aftermath of the Pentagon’s highly successful incursion into Venezuela, which reportedly used Anthropic’s Claude AI:

The intrigue: Hegseth specifically mentioned the Pentagon’s claim that Anthropic raised concerns to its partner Palantir over the use of Claude during the Maduro raid.

Amodei denied that Anthropic raised any such concerns or even broached the topic with Palantir beyond standard operating conversations.

He reiterated that the company’s red lines have never prevented the Pentagon from doing its work or posed an issue for anyone operating in the field.

An Anthropic spokesperson tried to smooth over the issue in a statement to Axios, saying, “During the conversation, Dario expressed appreciation for the Department’s work and thanked the Secretary for his service. We continued good-faith conversations about our usage policy to ensure Anthropic can continue to support the government’s national security mission in line with what our models can reliably and responsibly do.”

The post Hegseth Reportedly Gives Anthropic Ultimatum in Demand to Drop Mass Surveillance AI Safeguards first appeared on Mediaite.