Anthropic faces Friday deadline in Defense AI clash with Hegseth

CNBC confirmed Tuesday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he gave Anthropic until Friday evening to give the military broad access to its AI models.

Hegseth threatened to label the company a “supply chain risk” or invoke the Defense Production Act if Anthropic did not comply, according to people familiar with the discussion who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.

Anthropic’s negotiations with the Department of Defense have stalled because it wants assurances that its models will not be used for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance of Americans. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense wants the company to accept “all lawful use cases” without limitation.

“Supply chain risk” is a description often used for foreign competitors, but the Department of Defense must certify that its vendors and contractors are not using Anthropic’s models. The Defense Production Act allows the president to control domestic industries under emergency authority when it is in the interest of national security.

Sources said Hegseth set the deadline in a meeting with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Tuesday morning.

“We have continued to have good faith discussions about our usage policy to ensure that Anthropic can continue to support the government’s national security mission in line with what our models can reliably and responsibly do,” an Anthropic spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC. he said.

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by a group of former OpenAI researchers and executives and is best known for developing a family of AI models called Claude. The company was given an award 200 million dollars We signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense last year.

Until this week, Anthropic was the only AI company with permission to distribute its models to the agency’s private networks. Elon Musk’s xAI is now in second place, according to a senior Pentagon official, and the company recently agreed to allow its models to be used in secret environments.

The White House’s relationship with Anthropic has become rocky since President Donald Trump’s return to office, and officials have not hesitated to publicly criticize the company. Venture capitalist David Sacks, who serves as the administration’s AI and crypto czar, accused Anthropic of promoting “woke AI” for its stance on regulation.

Losing its contract with the Department of Defense would be a major blow to Anthropic, but the company has several other large corporate customers. Anthropic said earlier this month it had more than one 500 customers Those who spend more than $1 million a year.

The company also secured new capital inflow by completing its $30 billion financing round this month with a valuation of $380 billion.

WRISTWATCH: Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth gives Anthropic CEO until Friday to drop AI measures