Pentagon Gives Anthropic Friday Deadline to Drop AI Guardrails or Lose $200M Contract

The US Department of Defense is escalating its pressure on Anthropic, demanding the AI startup lift its military use restrictions by Friday or face being cut off from Pentagon contracts entirely.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth personally delivered an ultimatum to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei: either agree to allow Claude AI for all lawful uses by the military, or the Pentagon will invoke the Defense Production Act to force compliance.

The Pentagon currently has a $200 million contract with Anthropic and claims the company's existing restrictions are unduly restrictive. The dispute centers on Anthropic's refusal to permit its AI for mass surveillance of Americans or autonomous weapons without human oversight.

This is essentially a threat to make us a pariah in the defense industry, one Anthropic insider told reporters. The company has stated it remains committed to using frontier AI in support of US national security but insists on guardrails against human rights violations.

If Anthropic refuses, the Pentagon could declare the company a supply chain risk and ban all federal agencies from using its technology. This would mark one of the most significant confrontations between the AI industry and the US military.