Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is making a push to revive a Pentagon contract after talks collapsed last week, creating a supply chain designation risk for the privately held AI company.
Amodei Pushes to Salvage Pentagon Deal Amid Tensions
Amodei met with Emil Michael, undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, to revive contract terms governing military access to Anthropic’s AI models, the Financial Times reported.
According to the report, the breakdown of the initial talks was marked by a heated exchange between Michael and Amodei, with the former accusing the Anthropic CEO of dishonesty and a “God complex.”
The negotiations ultimately collapsed after the two parties failed to agree on language that would prevent the use of Anthropic’s AI for mass domestic surveillance, one of the company’s stated red lines alongside lethal autonomous weapons.
The report also noted that Amodei’s memo to staff, first reported by The Information on Wednesday, in which he accused the Pentagon and OpenAI of spreading misinformation, is likely to complicate the ongoing negotiations.
The dispute between Anthropic and the US government escalated when the Pentagon demanded that AI companies allow their technology to be used for any “lawful” purpose.
Defense Contractors Pull Back
The Pentagon controversy has propelled Claude to the top spot on Apple‘s App Store, causing outages reported by nearly 2,000 U.S. users.
Palantir Technologies Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:PLTR) Maven Smart Systems, a software used by the US military, is also reportedly facing disruption after the Pentagon ordered contractors to halt commercial ties with Anthropic.
Additionally, Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT) has pledged to remove Anthropic’s Claude AI tools from its operations after President Donald Trump imposed a federal agency-wide ban on the company.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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