We have long believed that AI should not be used for mass surveillance or autonomous lethal weapons, and that humans should remain in the loop for high-stakes automated decisions. These are our main red lines. It was the morning of February 27. That night, Altman made a deal with the DoW, which did not include any such contractual agreements.
Anthropic sought explicit contractual restrictions to prevent its AI from being used for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. The Pentagon, in contrast, insisted it must be able to deploy contractor technology for any lawful purpose. Negotiations broke down, the Department of Defense moved to terminate the contract, and it designated Anthropic a supply chain risk, effectively restricting many government agencies and defense contractors from working with the company.