Tue, 24 Feb 2026

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 US threatens Anthropic with deadline in dispute on AI safeguards

The AI developer laid out red lines on military use of its products, a source said.

* US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has threatened to remove Anthropic from his agency's supply chain if the company doesn't allow its AI technology to be used across military applications.
* Anthropic had until Friday evening to comply with the Pentagon's demands, but a source said the tone of the discussion between Hegseth and Anthropic boss Dario Amodei was cordial.
* Anthropic has set several "red lines" for use of their AI tools, including involvement in autonomous kinetic operations and mass domestic surveillance.
* The Pentagon official said that if Anthropic doesn't comply, Hegseth would invoke the Defense Production Act to compel unrestricted use by the Pentagon on national security grounds.
* Anthropic is one of four AI companies awarded contracts with the Pentagon last summer, along with Google, OpenAI, and xAI.
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