Pete Hegseth meets with Anthropic CEO over disagreements about AI guardrails for military use | CNN Business
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth today, as the Pentagon threatens the AI company with what could amount to a government blacklist.
At issue is the guardrails Anthropic placed on its AI models. The Pentagon, which has a $200 million contract with Anthropic, wants the company to lift its restrictions for the military to be able to use the model for “all lawful use,” according to a source familiar with the discussions.
But Anthropic has concerns over two issues that it isn’t willing to drop, the source said: AI-controlled weapons and mass domestic surveillance of American citizens. According to a source familiar, Anthropic believes AI is not reliable enough to operate weapons and no laws or regulations yet that cover how AI could be used in mass surveillance.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/24/tech/hegseth-anthropic-ai-military-amodeiOpen linkView original on sh.itjust.works
25 replies
If people would instead use the term "Text generator" instead of "AI", boomers like Hegseth would understand that the military is not its use case
Someone at Anthropic apparently saw that story, asked how Claude was used, and the Pentagon got cagey.
Text vomiter would be even more accurate
Turbo Travesty.
"Text generator to"
Identify the next target to attack
Justify the latest military operation to the press
Induce a panic in Congress to get the Pentagon more money
Lie about how the latest military engagement is going
Seems to fulfill all the basic responsibilities of a modern Secretary of
DefenseOffense. Why do we even need Hegseth at all? Hell, why do we need the Joint Chiefs? Just direct all future queries to the GenAI.mil platform. We can scrape every bureaucrat over the rank of Major with this thing.Isn't Pete Hegseth the guy who gets drunk and invites journalists to secret military chats?
He leaks secrets that remind him of the good times He leaks secrets that remind of the better times
Oh Petey boyyyyyy
o/
Man we used to high five in IRC and now all i see is a salute. 😟
That and is totally cool taking orders from a treasonous child rapist
Whenever the Pentagon catches even the slightest whiff of a conscience among its contractors they move immediately to snuff it out.
If the fascists don't like it, Anthropic must be doing something right.
Though you can never tell for sure with CEOs, Dario Amodei has shown dangerous signs of being ethical, at least with not overselling LLM capabilities and with giving serious thought to downstream risks. On the input side, honoring copyright and not abusing fair use: maybe not so much.
Aaaaaaaaand it's gone: https://lite.cnn.com/2026/02/25/tech/anthropic-safety-policy-change
Now they are just like any other AI corporation.
Well, maybe there is still hope: https://www.anthropic.com/news/statement-department-of-war
It could just be a ruse to stay on the moral high ground (for now, that is). Anyway I'm going to assess them based on what they do. And if it is what they say, they're still one of the better AI corporations.
I have to doubt they will use it, regardless of any concerns.
I imagine you meant to say “no doubt” they will use it. Because I have none.
That's how I read it. They are already using it, but want absolutely no guardrails or ethical interference.
Anyone else have “SkyNet released” on their 2026 bingo card?
But why the crab cakes? The rest of it makes sense, but… what?
Then let me ask, how would you reach quorum with a loose group in the south? It’s guns or fried food, for me.
im guessing palinitir isnt what its cracke dup to be of its own AI.
something something walk or drive to the car wash something something
Three possible outcomes:
I'm thinking it's probably 3.
MAGA Diplomacy: "Just shut the fuck up, and take the fucking money. What's the matter with you?"