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Trump Bans Anthropic AI From Federal Agencies After Firm Refuses to Unlock Capabilities

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Anthropic cites risks of autonomous military applications, mass domestic surveillance:

President Donald Trump ordered every U.S. federal agency to stop using technology from AI company Anthropic on Friday, February 27, posting the directive to Truth Social at 3:47 PM ET — more than an hour before the Pentagon's own 5:01 PM ET deadline for Anthropic to comply with its demands.

“THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL NEVER ALLOW A RADICAL LEFT, WOKE COMPANY TO DICTATE HOW OUR GREAT MILITARY FIGHTS AND WINS WARS,” Mr. Trump fumed on Truth Social, adding that he is directing every U.S. federal agency to “IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic's technology.”

[...] After months of private talks collapsed into a public standoff this week, Amodei said Thursday his company "cannot in good conscience accede" to the DoD's terms. The Pentagon responded by threatening to invoke the Korean War-era Defense Production Act to compel Anthropic's compliance and warned it would designate the company a "supply chain risk" — a label typically reserved for companies from adversarial nations such as Huawei.

[...] Claude was the only AI model approved for use in classified military systems, and defense software firm Palantir, which uses Claude to power its most sensitive government contracts, will need to find a replacement quickly. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Friday he shares Anthropic's position on autonomous weapons' ethical “red lines,” complicating its candidacy as a direct replacement.

Also see:
    • Trump Slams Anthropic as 'Woke,' Orders Feds to Stop Using Claude AI
    • Claude won't be allowed to engage in mass surveillance or power fully autonomous weapons

Meanwhile:

OpenAI to work with Pentagon after Anthropic dropped by Trump over company's ethics concerns

An Anonymous Coward writes:

CEO Sam Altman claims military will not use AI product for autonomous killing systems or mass surveillance:

OpenAI said it had struck a deal with the Pentagon to supply AI to classified US military networks, hours after Donald Trump ordered the government to stop using the services of one of the company's main competitors.

Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, announced the move on Friday night. It came after an agreement between Anthropic, a rival AI company that runs the Claude system, and the Trump administration broke down after Anthropic sought assurances its technology would not be used for mass surveillance – nor for autonomous weapons systems that can kill people without human input.

Announcing the deal, Altman insisted that OpenAI's agreement with the government included assurances that it would not be used to those ends.

[...] If OpenAI's deal does prohibit its systems from being used for unethical ends, it would appear the company has succeeded in receiving assurances where Anthropic could not. Altman announced the deal with the government shortly after the president said he would direct all federal agencies to "IMMEDIATELY CEASE" all use of Anthropic technology.

[...] It remains to be seen how OpenAI staff respond to the government deal. In its battle with the Trump administration, Anthropic has drawn support from its most fierce rivals. Nearly 500 OpenAI and Google employees signed on to an open letter saying "we will not be divided".

"The Pentagon is negotiating with Google and OpenAI to try to get them to agree to what Anthropic has refused," the letter reads. "They're trying to divide each company with fear that the other will give in."

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