Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei seemed to be sticking to his guns as he insisted that his company’s AI models not be used by the military to conduct mass surveillance of US citizens or control killer drones without human intervention.
The CEO lashed out in an internal memo last week, which was leaked to The Information, accusing fellow OpenAI cofounder and CEO Sam Altman of bending the knee, claiming that he had given president Donald Trump “dictator-style praise” and bribing him with donations.
The criticism put Anthropic in a precarious position. The other shoe finally dropped on Thursday, when the Pentagon officially designated Anthropic a supply chain risk “effective immediately,” the first time a US company has ever been labeled as such. The unprecedented move is particularly bizarre because the Pentagon has reportedly been using Claude to select targets in its war on Iran.
Now, Amodei has struck a drastically different tone, instead apologizing and groveling for the president’s favor.
“It was a difficult day for the company, and I apologize for the tone of the post,” he wrote in an uncharacteristically brief Thursday statement published on the company’s website.
“It does not reflect my careful or considered views,” a regretful Amodei wrote. “It was also written six days ago, and is an out-of-date assessment of the current situation.”
Amodei also said he regretted that the memo became public at all.
“Anthropic did not leak this post nor direct anyone else to do so — it is not in our interest to escalate this situation,” he wrote.T
The AI company had “productive conversations” with the defense department, he said, “about ways we could serve the Department that adhere to our two narrow exceptions, and ways for us to ensure a smooth transition if that is not possible.”
Amodei insisted in the note that Anthropic still doesn’t believe “that it is the role of Anthropic or any private company to be involved in operational decision-making — that is the role of the military.”
“Our only concerns have been our exceptions on fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance, which relate to high-level usage areas, and not operational decision-making,” he wrote.
“Anthropic has much more in common with the Department of War than we have differences,” Amodei offered. “We both are committed to advancing US national security and defending the American people, and agree on the urgency of applying AI across the government.”
Amodei’s plea highlights how much pressure is on his company right now.
But whether the mea culpa will be enough to patch things up with the Pentagon — especially now that Anthropic has been turned into a red, blinking button that the government doesn’t want any company to touch with a ten-foot pole — remains to be seen.
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