Trump’s war secretary, “Whiskey Pete” Hegseth, is threatening to blackball Anthropic’s Claude over politics, as Trump denounces “woke AI” in favor of CSAM-generating “MechHitler” Grok.
It would appear that by questioning the Pentagon turning Claude into a mass surveillance tool, and developing self-firing AI weapons, Anthropic got on the administration’s bad side. Hegseth is threatening to put Anthropic on a list of “supply chain risks,” forcing other companies that want Government work, not just the Pentagon itself, to abandon doing business with them. Anthropic is naturally concerned about how unethical the USG can get while using its service. Elon and Grok are unlikely to do anything but encourage “moar.”
According to multiple reports, Anthropic has some qualms with the Pentagon using its Claude AI program in a massive surveillance program on U.S. citizens. They also take issue with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth potentially using AI to develop weapons that fire with no human involvement.
Basically, Hegseth has said that the company is asking for too much, and after months of fighting behind closed doors, the White House wants to bring this fight to the public, according to a source that spoke to Axios.
“The Department of War’s relationship with Anthropic is being reviewed,” a Pentagon spokesperson told Axios Monday, using President Donald Trump’s rebranded name for the Defense Department. “Our nation requires that our partners be willing to help our warfighters win in any fight. Ultimately, this is about our troops and the safety of the American people.”
The government has ingrained Claude so far into many systems that this will be a major problem to solve, should Hegseth carry through.
“It will be an enormous pain in the ass to disentangle, and we are going to make sure they pay a price for forcing our hand like this,” an unnamed Pentagon official told Axios.
The use of Anthropic’s AI in the Pentagon goes so deep that its programs were reportedly used to carry out the military operation to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January.
DailyKOS
Those pesky ethics keep getting in the way.
"Ultimately, this is about our troops and the safety of the American people."
They keep us safe by shooting us.