On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei that if the company does not allow Claude to be used for, "all lawful purposes," he would cancel Anthropic's $200 million contract and 5deem the company a 6supply-chain risk.
But in a blog post Thursday, Amodei rejected the demands, saying in part that AI could, "7undermine rather than defend democratic values."
"They're worried about a couple of things how this technology is 8deployed, and one of them has to do with 9surveillance and the other has to do with 10autonomous weapons. These are not perfect systems. What if it did do something wrong?"
Amodei said Anthropic would not change its position despite the threats.
Some experts say the company could have a lot to gain by 11sticking to their position.
"They are selling themselves on safety. They'll do plenty of business with companies that really value this kind of thinking."
And the 12battle over AI this week isn't limited to the military.
On Thursday, Block, the company behind Square, Cash App, and Afterpay, announced thousands of layoffs, cutting staff by 40%.
The reason?
Intelligence tools, according to a letter to shareholders by co-founder Jack Dorsey.
"The company says artificial intelligence can do more of that work better than the people that are working there."
A 13stark warning that it's likely other businesses will begin 14following suit.
