BlockBeats report, on February 28, the U.S. Department of Defense demanded that Anthropic remove Claude’s built-in safety restrictions regarding "autonomous lethal robots" and "mass surveillance," or face the loss of a $200 million contract and be labeled a supply chain risk. Anthropic refused to provide a written commitment, and co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei responded firmly, "These threats cannot change our position—we cannot morally agree to their request."
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman publicly supported Anthropic on CNBC, stating, “I think the Pentagon shouldn’t make such threats. Although I have many disagreements with Anthropic, they are trustworthy in the realm of safety.” The two fiercest competitors in the AI field have just publicly drawn this line in the sand, while at last week’s India AI Summit, Sam Altman and Dario Amodei refused to shake hands during a photo opportunity. Meanwhile, 70 OpenAI employees signed an open letter titled “We Will Not Be Divided,” and engineers at Google have also voiced their support.
Trump responded firmly: I have instructed every federal agency of the U.S. government to immediately cease using Anthropic’s technology. We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and we will not do business with them again! Agencies such as the Department of Defense that currently use Anthropic products will be given a six-month phase-out period. Anthropic had better behave well and provide assistance during this phase-out period, or I will deploy the full power of the presidency to compel their compliance, and they will face significant civil and criminal consequences.