By Nick Robins-Early
Publication Date: 2026-02-26 23:28:00
Anthropic said Thursday it “could not in good conscience” comply with a Pentagon demand to remove safeguards from its artificial intelligence model and give the U.S. military full access to its AI capabilities.
The Defense Department had threatened to terminate a $200 million contract and designate Anthropic as a “supply chain risk,” a designation with serious financial implications, if the company didn’t comply by Friday.
Chief Executive Dario Amodei said in a statement that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s threats would not change the company’s position and he hoped Hegseth would “reconsider.”
“Our strong preference is to continue to serve the department and our warfighters – with both of our required safeguards,” he said. “We remain ready to continue our work in support of the national security of the United States.”
At the heart of the standoff between the Defense Department and Anthropic is a disagreement over how the…
