Anthropic says Pentagon threats will not change its stance on DoD use
Feb 27th 2026
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said the company cannot in good conscience allow the Defense Department unrestricted use of its AI models, standing firm despite DoD threats to label it a supply chain risk or invoke the Defense Production Act.
- CEO Dario Amodei said the company will not agree to let the Department of Defense use its models without limits.
- The DoD, led by Secretary Pete Hegseth, demanded unrestricted use and threatened to label Anthropic a supply chain risk or invoke the Defense Production Act.
- Anthropic seeks written assurances its models will not be used for fully autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance.
- A Pentagon spokesman said the DoD has no interest in using Anthropic models for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance and wants models usable for all lawful purposes.
- Anthropic signed a $200 million DoD contract in July and integrated its models into mission workflows on classified networks, while other labs accepted broader DoD use for unclassified systems and xAI agreed to classified use this week.
- Hegseth met Amodei and gave Anthropic a Friday deadline after the DoD sent a last and final offer, and negotiations are ongoing.