Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei until Friday evening to give the military unfettered access to its AI model or face harsh penalties, Axios has learned.

The big picture: Hegseth told Amodei in a tense meeting on Tuesday that the Pentagon will either cut ties and declare Anthropic a "supply chain risk," or invoke the Defense Production Act to force the company to tailor its model to the military's needs.

Why it matters: The Pentagon wants to punish Anthropic as the feud over AI safeguards grows increasingly nasty, but officials are also worried about the consequences of losing access to its industry-leading model, Claude.

"The only reason we're still talking to these people is we need them and we need them now. The problem for these guys is they are that good," a Defense official told Axios ahead of the meeting.
Anthropic has said it is willing to adapt its usage policies for the Pentagon, but not to allow its model to be used for the mass surveillance of Americans or the development of weapons that fire without human involvement.
Anthropic's Claude is the only AI model currently used for the military's most sensitive work.

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First published:
February 24th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/JdKyWmzfv8EeBuxHC/exclusive-hegseth-gives-anthropic-until-friday-to-back-down-1

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“Exclusive: Hegseth gives Anthropic until Friday to back down on AI safeguards” by Matrice Jacobine

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

“Exclusive: Hegseth gives Anthropic until Friday to back down on AI safeguards” by Matrice Jacobine