Anthropic is rejecting the Pentagon’s latest offer to change their contract, saying the changes do not satisfy the company’s concerns that AI could be used for mass surveillance or in fully autonomous weapons.

The dispute between Pentagon and Anthropic stems from the refusal of the AI startup to put down certain guardrails that would allow the US military to autonomously use targeted weapons and conduct mass surveillence in the United States.

The defense secretary’s desperate ploy to make a top Pentagon contractor cave to his demands is raising red flags for experts. “It doesn’t make any sense,” Dean Ball, a former AI adviser in the Trump

CEO Dario Amodei’s statement came less than 24 hours before the deadline in the Pentagon’s ultimatum. Less than 24 hours before the deadline in an ultimatum issued by the Pentagon, Anthropic has refused the Department of Defense’s demands for unrestricted access to its AI.

Anthropic said Thursday that “virtually no progress” had been made in the company’s talks with the Pentagon over the terms of use for its AI models ahead of a Friday afternoon deadline. The

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to hold a high-stakes meeting with Anthropic boss Dario Amodei on Tuesday as they try to navigate rising tensions over military use of the Claude AI chatbot.

The Defense Department has been feuding with Anthropic over military uses of its artificial intelligence tools. At stake are hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts and access to some of the most advanced AI on the planet.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said Thursday the AI company “cannot in good conscience accede” to the Pentagon’s demands to allow wider use of its technology.