CEO Anthropic opposes surveillance and autonomous weapons, labeled as a "supply chain risk" by the Pentagon

Dario Amodei, CEO of AI company Anthropic, has responded to the Department of Defense and the White House after defense contractors working with the U.S. Department of Defense were instructed to cease using Anthropic’s products.

In an interview with CBS News on Saturday, Amodei stated that Anthropic opposes the use of its AI models for mass surveillance within the country and the development of fully autonomous weapons that can fire without any human intervention.

He emphasized that Anthropic agrees with most of the U.S. government’s AI proposals, except for these two areas. According to Amodei, these are core issues for Americans, including the right not to be monitored by the government and the right for military officers to make decisions related to war, rather than handing full control over to machines.

Previously, the U.S. Department of Defense labeled Anthropic as a “supply chain risk,” meaning military contractors are prohibited from using the company’s products in defense contracts. Amodei called this move “unprecedented” and “punitive.”

However, the Anthropic CEO clarified that he does not entirely oppose the development of autonomous weapons in the future, especially if foreign militaries begin deploying such technology. He noted that the current issue is that AI is not yet reliable enough to operate fully autonomously in military environments.

Amodei argued that the legal framework has not kept pace with the rapid development of AI and called on the U.S. Congress to establish “protective barriers” to prevent AI from being used in mass surveillance programs domestically.

In related news, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on Friday that Anthropic is a “supply chain risk to national security” and immediately ordered all contractors, suppliers, or partners working with the U.S. military to cease commercial activities with the company.

Just hours after this announcement, Anthropic’s competitor, OpenAI, agreed to a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to deploy its AI models on military networks.