On Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, the creator of chatbot Claude, to discuss sharing technology with the U.S. military.
The Meeting
Amodei has continuously made his ethical concerns clear about the unchecked government use of artificial intelligence, including the dangers of fully autonomous armed drones, and AI-assisted mass surveillance that could track dissent.
The meeting was confirmed by an official with the Department of Defense who is not authorized to publicly comment and spoke on the condition on anonymity, reports PBS.
The tone of the meeting seemed cordial, however, Amodei continues his firm stance against fully autonomous military targeting operations and domestic surveillance on U.S. citizens. This comes as Hegseth has vowed to eliminate “woke culture” in the armed forces.
Last month, Amodei wrote: “A powerful AI looking across billions of conversations from millions of people could gauge public sentiment, detect pockets of disloyalty forming, and stamp them out before they grow.”
The Desire
Last summer, the Pentagon announced it was awarding defense contracts to Anthropic, Open AI, Google, and Elon Musk’s xAI. Each contract is worth $200 million.
Amodei’s company was the first one approved for classified military networks. The other three are still working in unclassified environments.
In January, Hegseth gave a speech at SpaceX saying he was not interested in any models of artificial intelligence “that won’t allow you to fight wars.” He continued stating his vision means they operate “without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications,” before stating artificial intelligence for the Department of Defense will “not be woke.”
Anthropic Safety-Minded
Owen Daniels, associate director of analysis and fellow and Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology says, “Anthropic’s peers, including Meta, Google and xAI, have been willing to comply with the department’s policy on using models for all lawful applications. So the company’s bargaining power here is limited, and it risks losing influence in the department’s push to adopt AI.”
Amodei has warned of potentially catastrophic dangers arguing that “we are considerably closer to real danger in 2026 than we were in 2023.” He states those dangers need to be managed in a manner that is “realistic and pragmatic.”
Anthropic vs. Trump Administration
This is not the first time the CEO’s call for stricter safeguards around artificial intelligence has put him at odds with the Trump administration. Amodei has publicly criticized the Administration for loosening export controls to allow some AI computer chips to be sold in China.
They have also lobbied on opposite sides of AI regulation in the U.S. David Sacks, top AI adviser, in October accused Anthropic of “running a sophisticated regulatory capture strategy based on fear-mongering.”
The comments made by Sacks were posted on social media in response to the company’s co-founder Jack Clark’s writing about attempting to balance technological optimism with “appropriate fear” about the march toward more capable artificial intelligence systems.
Soon after Trump returned to the White House, Anthropic hired several ex-Biden officials, however, the company has also attempted to signal a bipartisan approach recently adding Chris Liddell, a former White House official from Trump’s first term.
The Pentagon’s “breakneck” adoption of artificial intelligence proved a greater need for oversight or regulation, particularly if it is being used to surveil Americans, according to Amos Toh who is senior counsel at the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program at New York University.
In a social media post, Toh wrote, “The law is not keeping up with how quickly the technology is evolving. But that doesn’t mean DoD has a blank check.”
Sources:
CNN: Pentagon threatens to make Anthropic a pariah it it refuses to drop AI guardrails
PBS: AP report: Hegseth warns Anthropic to let the military use company’s AI tech as it sees fit
CBS News: Hegseth demands full military access to Athropic’s AI model
Featured Image Courtesy of liz west’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
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