By Bianca Baggiarini
Publication Date: 2026-03-02 04:32:00
Ahead of the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran over the weekend, the U.S. Department of Defense was in tense negotiations with artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic over exactly how the Pentagon might use the company’s technology.
Anthropic wanted to guarantee that its Claude systems would not be used for purposes such as domestic surveillance in the United States and the operation of autonomous weapons without human control.
In response, US President Donald Trump on Friday ordered all US federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s technology, saying he would “never allow a radical left-wing, woke company to dictate how our great military fights and wins wars!”
Hours later, rival AI lab OpenAI (maker of ChatGPT) announced it had struck its own deal with the Department of Defense. The main difference appears to be that OpenAI allows “any lawful use” of its tools without setting ethical boundaries that OpenAI will not cross.
What does this mean for military AI? Is it the end for…