In a new blog post, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei acknowledged that he received a letter from the Department of Defense officially declaring it a supply chain risk. He said he “does not believe this action is legally correct” and that his company has “no choice” but to challenge it in court. Hours before Amodei published the post, the Pentagon announced it had informed the company that its “products are considered a supply chain risk, effective immediately.”
If you’ll recall, the Department of Defense (called the War Department under the current administration) threatened the company with a designation reserved for companies from adversaries like China if it didn’t agree to lift its safeguards on mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. President Trump then ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s technology.
Amodei explained that the scope of the designation is limited, as it exists only to protect the government. That’s why the general public and even Defense Department contractors can still use Anthropic’s cloud chatbot and its AI technologies. Microsoft told cnbc It will continue using the cloud after its lawyers concluded that it could continue working with Anthropic on non-defense related projects.
The CEO also acknowledged that his company has had “meaningful conversations” with the department over the past few days. He said they are considering ways to serve the Pentagon that adheres to its two exceptions, namely that its technology not be used for mass surveillance and the development of fully autonomous weapons, and “to ensure a smooth transition if that is not possible.” This confirms reports that Anthropic is re-negotiating with the agency in an effort to reach a new deal. Additionally, he apologized for a leaked internal memo in which he reportedly said that OpenAI’s message about its own deal with the department was “just straight up false.”
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