Inside Anthropic's Killer-Robot Dispute With the Pentagon

"The Pentagon had kept trying to leave itself little escape hatches in the agreements that it proposed to Anthropic. It would pledge not to use Anthropic's AI for mass domestic surveillance or for fully autonomous killing machines, but then qualify those pledges with loopholey phrases like as appropriate—suggesting that the terms were subject to change, based on the administration's interpretation of a given situation."

"On Friday afternoon, Anthropic learned that the Pentagon still wanted to use the company's AI to analyze bulk data collected from Americans. That could include information such as the questions you ask your favorite chatbot, your Google search history, your GPS-tracked movements, and your credit-card transactions, all of which could be cross-referenced with other details about your life."

"Anthropic's leadership told Hegseth's team that was a bridge too far, and the deal fell apart. Soon after, Hegseth directed the U.S. military's contractors, suppliers, and partners to stop doing business with Anthropic."

Pete Hegseth moved to terminate the Pentagon's contract with Anthropic, an AI company whose model is the only one permitted in federal classified systems. The Pentagon sought to renegotiate the agreement to remove ethical restrictions. While negotiations progressed with the Pentagon agreeing to remove loopholes from pledges against mass surveillance and autonomous weapons, a critical impasse emerged: the Pentagon insisted on using Anthropic's AI to analyze bulk data collected from Americans, including search histories, GPS movements, and financial transactions. Anthropic's leadership rejected this demand as unacceptable, causing the deal to collapse. Subsequently, Hegseth directed military contractors and suppliers to cease business with Anthropic, affecting the company's access to computing infrastructure provided through military-contracting partners.

Read at The Atlantic