Anthropic CEO speaks out after conflict with the Pentagon

“We exercise our First Amendment rights when we speak up and disagree with the government. Disagreeing with the government is the most American thing in the world,” Amodei said in an interview with CBS News last weekend.

He said that the Pentagon’s labeling of Anthropic on February 27 as a “threat to the supply chain” – a designation usually reserved for businesses from enemy countries – was an unprecedented, retaliatory and punitive action. He explained, Anthropic wants to draw a red line when the government uses its technology because it “believes that crossing that line is contrary to American values” and the company wants to protect these values.

Amodei shared that if he could talk directly to President Donald Trump about the dispute, he would emphasize that the company is made up of “patriotic Americans.” “Everything we do is for the benefit of the United States, for the purpose of supporting national security. Our proactive deployment of our models with the military comes from confidence in this country,” he affirmed.

According to the founder of Anthropic, the company has not received any official information about stopping cooperation with the US Department of Defense, only tweets from Mr. Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. When they receive official information, they will review, learn and bring it to court. Amodei emphasized that he is still interested in cooperation, as long as it stays within the red line.

Theo ReutersAnthropic last year reached an agreement worth a maximum of 200 million USD to develop AI products for the US military. They are the first AI lab to deploy a model on the Department of Defense’s classified network, and the first company to develop a custom-built model at the request of a customer specializing in national security.

Anthropic attempted to discuss further terms of the contract before negotiations broke down. The company refuses to budge on the safety limits of using AI systems in autonomous weapons and mass surveillance of American citizens. The Ministry of Defense countered, asserting that it always operates within the legal framework and that contract suppliers cannot set their own terms on how the military uses the product.

Meanwhile, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced on February 28 that he had signed an agreement with the Pentagon to use the company’s AI tools in classified military systems. Notably, the agreement includes safety limits similar to Anthropic’s requirements, affirming that AI cannot be used to self-control automatic weapons or indiscriminately monitor the personal information of US citizens.