Pentagon Threatens AI, Cans American Company for Playing Safe
KEY POINTS
- •On Wednesday, the Pentagon asked Boeing and Lockheed Martin to report their reliance on Anthropic's AI Claude.
- •Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei until Friday 5:01pm to comply or face penalties.
- •Anthropic refuses to lift safeguards on mass surveillance or autonomous weapons, sparking a supply chain risk threat.
On a historic episode of 'How To Threaten Your Own Tech,' the Pentagon bugged Boeing and Lockheed Martin on Wednesday about their cozy relationship with Anthropic’s AI, Claude. Unlike Huawei, who’s the usual 'supply chain risk' punching bag, Anthropic’s American pedigree makes this peek-a-boo move unprecedented. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave CEO Dario Amodei a Friday 5:01pm ultimatum: ditch the AI ethics or face forced servitude under the Defense Production Act or a supply chain risk label that sounds like a modern-day scarlet letter. Claude, already the MVP behind capturing Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and lurking in classified wartime ops, refuses to help the Pentagon spy en masse or fire robot death rays unattended, triggering this technopolitical tantrum. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s xAI Baywatch-to-the-military deal and Google’s Gemini charm offensive add more flair to this AI soap opera. Stay tuned as America’s beloved AI becomes the new Cold War casualty.
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Pentagon’s throwdown with Anthropic: demand your AI spies on everyone or get slapped as a 'supply chain risk.' Next up, forcing Teslas to autopilot into enemy lines.
Anthropic’s Claude: the AI that refuses to be the military’s snitch—Pentagon’s new fave villain.
When DARPA wants a robot snitch and you say 'no thanks,' welcome to America’s naughty list.
Source: Axios | Published: 2/25/2026 | Author: Dave Lawler
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