{"id":41784,"date":"2026-03-05T18:07:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T18:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=41784"},"modified":"2026-03-05T18:07:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T18:07:07","slug":"lessons-from-anthropics-battle-with-the-pentagon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=41784","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from Anthropic\u2019s battle with the Pentagon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description o3-type-body-base\"><span>Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=ed959d71-4937-4ce6-a4e8-87cb939fca20\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>If governments and tech industry leaders need to work together to build careful controls around today\u2019s increasingly powerful AI systems, the US Department of Defense has given an object lesson in how not to go about it. Last week, the Pentagon lashed out at Anthropic after the AI company refused to yield full control over how its technology is used. The agency took steps to bar Anthropic from the military\u2019s supply chains. It was the kind of intemperate retaliation that has become typical of US President Donald Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n<p>Rival tech company OpenAI, meanwhile, reached a hurried agreement with the defence department that appeared to bow to the terms that Anthropic had rejected \u2014 only to try to put additional guardrails around its technology after a storm of protest. Its chief <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/653fabd7-03da-467a-b2bf-03f226fe2a29\" title=\"\" data-trackable=\"link\">Sam Altman confessed<\/a> that rushing in just as Anthropic was being hung out to dry by the government had made his company look \u201copportunistic and sloppy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>This episode will not reassure the public that measured consideration is being given to the government\u2019s use of a hugely powerful technology. But at least it has highlighted the urgent need for more competent, democratic accountability.<\/p>\n<p>Anthropic and OpenAI deserve some credit for trying to put limits around their technology, in this case trying to make sure it cannot be used for mass surveillance of Americans or in autonomous weapons that operate beyond human control. Each company\u2019s approach, however, had its weaknesses. Nor can either be a substitute for a more open political process \u2014 as both companies have themselves argued.<\/p>\n<p>Fearing that current US laws are not strong enough, Anthropic insisted on retaining a veto over how its AI is used. Bowing to a supplier\u2019s terms of service like this would be hard for any government to stomach, but particularly when it comes to a technology critical to national security. What happens if a company\u2019s leadership or priorities change and previous uses are blocked?<\/p>\n<p>OpenAI, by contrast, appeared to accede to the defence department\u2019s demand to use the technology however it wished, as long as it stays within the law. But days later OpenAI tightened its contract terms to try to make up for potential gaps in the law, and its lawyers are still not sure the contract is watertight.<\/p>\n<p>Whether companies would be willing to stand firm in similar contract disputes is another question. The weakness of bilateral deals like this is also that it leaves the Pentagon in a strong position to play AI companies off against one another, as it appeared to do with Anthropic and OpenAI. Anthropic chief Dario Amodei is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/97bda2ef-fc06-40b3-a867-f61a711b148b\" title=\"\" data-trackable=\"link\">now reportedly<\/a> making a last-ditch attempt to strike a deal with the US defence department.<\/p>\n<p>In future cases, with a greater degree of trust and a more temperate approach on all sides, the government and the AI companies could come out with a more workable solution. OpenAI said the Pentagon wanted to set up a broader industry and government working group to consider the issues. But this can never be a substitute for full democratic deliberation. If AI continues to advance at its current pace, democracies are about to come under even greater stress, whether from the disruption to jobs or a tide of AI-generated disinformation.<\/p>\n<p>Only action by Congress can assure appropriate safeguards. In the case of national defence, that means requiring as much transparency as the dictates of security allow, and drawing clear red lines that reflect the new realities of AI systems that are both powerful and, at least for now, not entirely predictable. The public\u2019s collective future security should not depend on the consciences of a handful of tech bosses and military officials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/ed959d71-4937-4ce6-a4e8-87cb939fca20\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":41785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tech","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}