Anthropic fallout Iran strikes fuel tech backlash over military AI use

technology workers GoogleOpenAI and some of its peers are circulating a series of letters calling for clearer limits on how their employers can work with the military, after the US attacked Iran over the weekend and the Pentagon blacklisted Anthropic’s AI models.

One open letterTitled “We Shall Not Be Divided,” it grew from a few hundred names on Friday to almost 900 on Monday, with nearly 100 signatories Nearly 800 from OpenAI and Google. The letter took aim at the Department of Defense’s actions against Anthropic, which does not allow its technology to be used for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.

“They are trying to split both companies out of fear that the other will cave in,” the letter reads. “This strategy only works if none of us know where the others stand. This letter serves to create common understanding and solidarity in the face of this pressure from the War Department.”

Combat operations in Iran began hours after the Trump Administration’s decision Friday to block Anthropic and designate the company as a “supply chain risk.” While the US government claims that the attack on Iran was necessary to neutralize “imminent threats” from the country’s nuclear and missile programs, these actions appear to have prompted more tech workers to sign various petitions.

Tensions in the tech space have been escalating for months, largely due to increased aggressiveness by federal immigration agents, including the killing of two American citizens in Minnesota earlier this year. Workers in the industry have demanded greater transparency about their employers’ work with the government, especially when it comes to cloud and AI contracts.

The latest reaction for Google is the company’s reportedly It is in talks with the Pentagon to bring its AI model Gemini to a secret system, reigniting a years-long infighting over military AI.

On Friday, No Tech for Apartheid, a group that has long been critical of cloud deals between the US government and tech giants. sent Joint statement titled “Amazon, Google, Microsoft Should Reject Pentagon’s Demands.”

The coalition said the three leaders in cloud infrastructure should reject DoD terms that would enable mass surveillance or other malicious uses of AI and called for greater clarity on contracts with the military and agencies including Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The group pointed directly at Google, pointing to the potential for a Pentagon deal that could mirror an agreement allowing the Department of Defense to deploy Grok from Elon Musk’s xAI “in classified environments, without any guardrails, as far as we know.”

“Our own companies are on the verge of accepting similar contract terms,” ​​the statement said. “There is Google negotiations “It will deploy its own border model, Gemini, with the Pentagon for covert uses.”

While Anthropic and OpenAI have made numerous public statements about their negotiations with the Department of Defense and the current status of their contracts, Google’s parent company Alphabet has remained silent. The company did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

In another effort supporting Anthropic, Hundreds of tech workers signed a contract open letter We call on the Ministry of Defense to withdraw its designation of the company as a “supply chain risk”. The list includes dozens of employees from OpenAI, as well as employees affiliated with the following companies: sales forceData Bricks, IBM’s and Cursor

The letter calls on Congress to “examine whether it is appropriate to use these emergency powers against an American technology company” and says Anthropic and other private companies should not face retaliation for refusing to accede to government demands.

Similar concerns were voiced at Google last week. More than 100 employees working on artificial intelligence technology reportedly signed a letter to management expressing their fears about the company’s work with the Department of Defense. They asked the research giant to draw the same red lines as Anthropic. New York Times.

Google’s chief scientist Jeff Dean took the memo and appeared sympathetic to at least some of the concerns. He wrote in one title: X “mass surveillance violates the Fourth Amendment and has a chilling effect on free speech.”

He added that there are surveillance systems. “It is prone to misuse for political or discriminatory purposes.”

Dean recently experienced similar problems at Google.

The company faced an internal revolt in 2018 against Project Maven, a Pentagon program that used artificial intelligence to analyze drone footage. After thousands of employees protested, Google let the contract lapse. The company later created “Artificial Intelligence Principles” that laid out how its technology could be used.

This continues to be a cause for concern. Google in 2024 was fired More than 50 employees following protests over Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion joint contract with Amazon to work with the Israeli government. Executives have repeatedly said the contract does not violate any company rules Principles of Artificial Intelligence. But, documents And reports Show the deal the company was allowed to give to Israel AI tools image categorization, object tracking and provisions for state-owned arms manufacturers.

In December of the same year, a New York Times report found He said four months before the Nimbus deal, company officials were concerned that signing the deal would damage the company’s reputation and that “Google Cloud services could be used to facilitate or are linked to human rights abuses.”

Early last year, Google reportedly revised its AI Guidelines and removed language that explicitly banned “weapons making” or “surveillance technology.”

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