Washington had given the artificial intelligence startup until Friday 5.01 pm to agree to unconditional military use of its technology.

As well as designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk, the government could also cancel its contract or invoke a Cold War-era law called the Defense Production Act to give the military more sweeping authority to use its products, even if the company doesn’t approve.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic until Friday at 5 p.m. to grant the military unresticted use of its AI technology.

Anthropic fears the unrestricted military use of its AI systems by the US government may harm democracy. Military officials have threatened to invoke Cold War-era legislation to force Anthropic to comply.

Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei said the company could not permit its technology to be applied to domestic mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.

Debates have long swirled around AI and its use in weapons targeting, the idea of no human involvement still an uncomfortable one.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's ultimatum to Anthropic over expanded Claude access could trigger a months-long AI capability gap and disrupt the defense industrial

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence lab Anthropic on Tuesday unveiled 10 new ways for business customers to plug in its technology to key areas of their work, weeks after other releases sparked an aggressive selloff in traditional software company shares.