Anthropic has reached a stalemate with the United States Department of War over the military’s request for unrestricted access to the AI company’s technology. As the Pentagon’s Friday afternoon deadline for Anthropic’s compliance approaches, over 300 Google employees and over 60 OpenAI employees have signed an open letter urging the leaders of their companies to support Anthropic and refuse this unilateral use.
Specifically, Anthropic stood in opposition to the use of AI for domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weaponry. The open letter’s signatories seek to encourage their employers to put aside their differences and stand together to uphold the boundaries Anthropic has asserted. The letter states that the strategy of dividing the companies only works if none of them know where the others stand.
The letter specifically calls on executives at Google and OpenAI to maintain Anthropic’s red lines against mass surveillance and fully automated weaponry. Leaders at the companies have not yet formally responded to the letter. However, informal statements suggest both companies are sympathetic to Anthropic’s side.
In an interview, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that he does not personally think the Pentagon should be threatening the Defense Production Act against these companies. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the company shares Anthropic’s red lines against autonomous weapons and mass surveillance.
Google DeepMind has not formally addressed the conflict, but Chief Scientist Jeff Dean expressed opposition to mass surveillance by the government. He stated that mass surveillance violates the Fourth Amendment and has a chilling effect on freedom of expression, adding that surveillance systems are prone to misuse for political or discriminatory purposes.
According to a report, the military currently can use X’s Grok, Google’s Gemini, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT for unclassified tasks, and has been negotiating with Google and OpenAI to bring its technology over for use in classified work. While Anthropic has an existing partnership with the Pentagon, the AI company has remained firm in maintaining the boundary that its AI be used for neither mass domestic surveillance nor fully autonomous weaponry.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei that if his company doesn’t concede, the Pentagon will either declare Anthropic a supply chain risk or invoke the Defense Production Act to force the company to comply. In a statement, Amodei maintained his company’s position, calling the threats contradictory and stating that Anthropic cannot in good conscience accede to the request.