Anthropic Won’t Let Pentagon Turn AI Into Big Brother Armed with Lasers
KEY POINTS
- •Secretary of War Pete Hegseth held a January 29, 2026 White House meeting to discuss AI military contracts.
- •Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused Pentagon demands to allow fully autonomous lethal AI and mass surveillance.
- •Pentagon CTO Emil Michael threatened to label Anthropic a 'supply chain risk' if they didn’t comply.
On January 29, 2026, at the White House Cabinet Room, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, flanked by President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, tried to charm AI firm Anthropic into loosening AI controls for the Pentagon’s 'any lawful use' clause—even if that means full-on mass surveillance and fully autonomous lethal robots. CEO Dario Amodei respectfully declined, despite ‘threats’ including Pentagon CTO Emil Michael threatening a 'supply chain risk' label usually reserved for national security nightmares. Meanwhile, OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI quietly signed on, proving you really can make AI do scary military stuff if you just say yes politely.
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Pentagon wants AI firms to hand over keys to fully autonomous killer bots and spy towers, but Anthropic prefers keeping their robots more 'friendly neighbor' than 'Terminator sequel.' Threats don’t scare them—maybe just the endorsement deals not yet offered.
Anthropic telling the Pentagon 'No thanks' on killer robot license is the 2026 version of saying 'No refunds after 30 days.' Can't blame 'em for reading the fine print.
Turns out Pentagon's idea of 'any lawful use' is AI cowboy with a badge and no chill. Anthropic's red line looks more like a firebreak in that spaghetti plot.
Source: Theverge | Published: 2/27/2026 | Author: Stevie Bonifield
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