Anthropic won't agree to the Pentagon's terms for using its AI, despite the threat of losing its $200M DoD contract, among other things.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Thursday that the DOD has "no interest" in using Anthropic's models for fully autonomous weapons or to conduct mass surveillance of Americans, which he noted is illegal. He emphasized the agency wants the company to agree to allow its models to be used for "all lawful purposes."

Start-up Anthropic and the U.S. military are careening toward a clash over government use of artificial intelligence — and whether it should be allowed to kill.

U.S. military shoots down Border Patrol drone over Texas. And Anthropic rejects Pentagon's AI access ultimatum.

The Pentagon's top technology official told CBS News the military has offered compromises to Anthropic, amid a feud over whether its powerful AI technology will be restricted — but Anthropic called the offer inadequate.

If the Pentagon carries out its threat to blacklist Anthropic’s Claude AI platform, it could be three months or even longer before the U.S. military regains access to such a powerful tool on its classified networks, according to multiple sources familiar with the fight between the Defense Department and the AI maker.

A top Pentagon official lost his cool with an AI company in full public view after it refused to bow to the demands of the so-called “War Department.” Undersecretary of Defense Emil Michael’s very public meltdown was in response to fraught discussions with the AI safety and research company Anthropic.

Anthropic, a company founded by OpenAI exiles worried about the dangers of AI, is loosening its core safety principle in response to competition.