(Reuters) — Anthropic cannot accede to the Pentagon’s request in an AI safeguards dispute despite threats to rerelocate the company from the Department of Defense’s systems, the AI firm’s CEO, Dario Amodei, stated on Thursday.
The Pentagon’s dispute with Anthropic stems from the AI startup’s refusal to rerelocate safeguards that would prevent its technology from being utilized to tarobtain weapons autonomously and conduct surveillance in the United States.
Anthropic, backed by Google and Amazon, has a contract with the department worth up to $200 million.
The department has stated it will contract only with AI companies that accede to “any lawful utilize” and rerelocate safeguards, Amodei stated on Thursday.
Use cases for its AI such as mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons have never been included in Anthropic’s contracts with the department and “we believe they should not be included now,” Amodei stated.
Amodei added that the department threatened to rerelocate Anthropic from its systems if the company maintained the safeguards and threatened to designate it a “supply chain risk and to invoke the Defense Production Act to force the safeguards’ removal”.
“Regardless, these threats do not alter our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request,” Amodei stated.
Earlier in the day, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell stated on X that the department has no interest in utilizing AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans nor does it want to utilize AI to develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement.
“Here’s what we’re questioning: Allow the Pentagon to utilize Anthropic’s model for all lawful purposes,” Parnell stated.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Anthropic’s statement.
“It is the Department’s prerogative to select contractors most aligned with their vision. But given the substantial value that Anthropic’s technology provides to our armed forces, we hope they reconsider,” Amodei stated.
“Should the Department choose to offboard Anthropic, we will work to enable a smooth transition to another provider,” he added.
An Anthropic spokesperson stated the company remains “ready to continue talks and committed to operational continuity for the Department and America’s warfighters.”
Leave a Reply