Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei could still be trying to make a deal with Pentagon
TL;DR
Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei is reportedly back in talks with the Pentagon after a $200M defense contract collapsed over AI usage restrictions. Despite public disputes, a compromise may appeal as the military relies on Anthropic's tech, avoiding a disruptive switch to OpenAI.
Key Takeaways
- •Anthropic's $200 million DoD contract failed due to disagreements over unrestricted military access to AI, leading to a deal with OpenAI instead.
- •CEO Dario Amodei resumed negotiations with Pentagon official Emil Michael, seeking a compromise on AI model access terms.
- •The dispute centered on Amodei's refusal to allow AI use for domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons, with both sides exchanging public criticisms.
- •A new deal could benefit both parties: the Pentagon avoids disruption from switching to OpenAI, and Anthropic maintains a key client.
- •Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to blacklist Anthropic as a supply chain risk, though legal action is pending.
Anthropic’s $200 million contract with the Department of Defense (DOD) broke down last week after the two parties failed to come to an agreement over the degree to which the military could obtain unrestricted access to Anthropic’s AI.
When the DOD made a deal with OpenAI instead, it seemed that the military’s relationship with Anthropic would come to a close — but new reporting from the Financial Times and Bloomberg say that Amodei resumed negotiations with Pentagon official Emil Michael.
These talks are reportedly part of an attempt to compromise on a contract that outlines how the Pentagon can continue to access Anthropic’s AI models.
It would be a surprise to see Anthropic eek out a new deal, given how much vitriol has been exchanged among the parties involved. But a compromise could still hold appeal for both sides — the Pentagon already relies on Anthropic’s technology, and an abrupt switch to OpenAI’s systems would be disruptive.
The dispute began when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei voiced concern over a clause that allowed the military to use Anthropic’s AI for “any lawful use.” Amodei asserted that the company would not allow for its technology to be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry and wanted the contract to more clearly prohibit those uses. When Anthropic refused to comply, the DOD turned around and struck a deal with OpenAI instead.
Since then, figures on both sides have been open about their frustrations. Michael called Amodei a “liar” with a “God complex.” Amodei threw some jabs of his own at the DOD and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a message reportedly sent to Anthropic staff this week, calling the OpenAI deal “safety theater” and the messaging around it “straight up lies.”
“The main reason [OpenAI] accepted [the DOD’s deal] and we did not is that they cared about placating employees, and we actually cared about preventing abuses,” Amodei wrote in the memo.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has pledged to declare Anthropic a “supply-chain risk,” essentially blacklisting the company from working with any other company that has business with the U.S. military — although he has yet to take any legal action to that effect. This sort of designation is typically reserved for foreign adversaries, and it’s unclear whether it would survive a court challenge.