Artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic said Feb. 26 it would not comply with the Pentagon’s ultimatum to remove ethics and safety restrictions on its AI models for military use or be deemed a “supply chain risk” and removed from the Department of War’s systems. The move potentially jeopardizes a $200 million government contract.
The disagreement stems from Anthropic’s refusal to lift safeguards that block its AI systems from being used for the mass surveillance of Americans or for fully autonomous weapons capable of killing without human oversight, as Zeale News previously reported.
Earlier in the day, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on X that the department has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance or to deploy autonomous weapons systems operating without human involvement. “This narrative is fake and being peddled by leftists in the media,” he said.
“Here’s what we’re asking: Allow the Pentagon to use Anthropic’s model for all lawful purposes,” Parnell said, adding that the company had until 5:01 pm ET on Feb. 27 to decide. “Otherwise, we will terminate our partnership with Anthropic and deem them a supply chain risk.”
Undersecretary of War Emil Michael echoed Parnell’s stance in another X post, arguing that mass domestic surveillance is already unlawful and thus the department would never engage in it.
Anthropic’s statement
In a statement issued hours later, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said the company “cannot in good conscience accede” to the request.
Anthropic said that while it recognizes that the Department of War — not private companies — makes military decisions, there are “a narrow set of cases” in which AI “can undermine rather than defend democratic values.” The company specifically cited its concerns about mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons.
Anthropic does not oppose AI use in foreign intelligence or counterintelligence missions but warned that deploying such systems for domestic surveillance “is incompatible with democratic values.”
Under current law, the government can purchase “detailed records of Americans’ movements, web browsing, and associations from public sources without obtaining a warrant,” Anthropic argued. AI tools can compile that otherwise scattered data into a comprehensive profile of any person’s life, creating “serious, novel risks to our fundamental liberties.”
Amodei had previously warned that such capabilities could undermine Fourth Amendment protections and other civil liberties and suggested that the U.S. must update its legal framework to explicitly address AI-driven surveillance.
On the issue of autonomous weapons, Anthropic said that it “will not knowingly provide a product” to the military “that puts America’s warfighters and civilians at risk.” The company added that these weapons “cannot be relied upon to exercise the critical judgment that our highly trained, professional troops exhibit every day.”
Amodei said he hoped the Pentagon would reconsider but that the company “will work to enable a smooth transition to another provider” if the department decided to cancel its contract with Anthropic, which was awarded in July 2025.
Amodei also said that the department had threatened to invoke the Defense Production Act to force the removal of the safeguards. The act gives the president the authority to require that private companies prioritize contracts deemed necessary for national defense and was used after the outbreak of COVID-19 to increase vaccine and ventilator production.
“Regardless,” Amodei said, “these threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request.”
Department of War’s response
Pentagon officials vehemently rejected Amodei’s arguments, claiming they were misleading. In a post issued in response to Anthropic’s decision, Michael said that the Pentagon would “ALWAYS adhere to the law” but would “not bend to whims of any one for-profit tech company.”
“It’s a shame that [Amodei] is a liar and has a God-complex,” the undersecretary of war added. “He wants nothing more than to try to personally control the US Military and is ok putting our nation’s safety at risk.”
Michael also claimed in a separate post that Anthropic had an old company constitution that “they desperately tried to delete from the internet.” According to Michael, the constitution stated, “‘Choose the response that is least likely to be viewed as harmful or offensive to a non-western cultural tradition of any sort.’”
Elon Musk — CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and former head of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency — responded to Michael’s post, saying, “Anthropic hates Western Civilization.” Musk also founded xAI, the AI company behind the platform Grok.
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