All articles tagged with #pentagon
OpenAI said it reached an agreement with the Pentagon to provide its AI technologies for classified systems, hours after President Trump ordered federal agencies to pause using Anthropic’s AI; Anthropic had pushed for guardrails and rejected unfettered access, highlighting a high-stakes clash over how AI can be used in government and military contexts.
President Trump escalated his clash with AI startup Anthropic by ordering a government-wide boycott of Claude and hinting at criminal penalties, while Defense Secretary Hegseth designated Anthropic a supply-chain risk and floated using the Defense Production Act to force government access. Anthropic warned it could sue if the move threatens national security, and OpenAI signaled concern about the broader industry impact. Lawmakers urged narrowly tailored limits and hearings, underscoring a potential shift toward greater Washington dominance over AI and its implications for national security, privacy, and the tech sector’s relationship with government.
The Pentagon reportedly approved OpenAI's safety rules for deploying AI in classified settings, though no contract has been signed, signaling a shift away from Anthropic in military use debates. OpenAI wants cloud-only confinement, ongoing security monitoring, and researchers with security clearances to advise on risks, while opposing mass surveillance and autonomous weapons; the move could boost OpenAI politically even as Anthropic faces criticism from defense officials.
President Trump directed every federal agency to immediately stop using Anthropic's AI tools, ordering a six-month phase-out amid a dispute over safeguards and potential military or domestic surveillance uses; Anthropic has resisted unrestricted access to its tools, while the Pentagon pressed for broader use, and industry groups and tech workers warned against war-related deployments and the implications for AI governance.
President Trump directs the federal government to cease all use of Anthropic's Claude, with the Pentagon labeling Anthropic a supply-chain risk and moving to sever military contracts, enforcing a six-month wind-down to onboard alternatives while agencies transition away from Claude; Anthropic is weighing legal options and could resist the measures.
A standoff between AI startup Anthropic and the Pentagon centers on how AI could be used in defense, including a hypothetical nuclear-strike discussion, exposing sharp disagreements over lethal autonomy, safety controls, and how the government should regulate AI-powered weapons.
OpenAI says it shares Anthropic's red lines for Pentagon use of AI—no mass surveillance or autonomous weapons and humans in the loop—while pursuing a deal to run ChatGPT in classified military environments under guardrails such as cloud-only confinement, ongoing security monitoring, and clearance-backed oversight. The stance signals a rare, industry-wide push on governance amid the Pentagon–Anthropic clash and could shift leverage toward OpenAI if it secures the contract; there is visible solidarity from OpenAI and Google staff with Anthropic’s stance.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Scouting America will alter several policies to preserve U.S. military backing, including discontinuing the Citizenship in Society merit badge, creating a Military Service merit badge, and waiving registration fees for children of military personnel. The Pentagon will rigorously review the changes over six months and could end its support if Scouting America does not comply. The move follows ongoing criticism of Scouting America’s DEI and gender policies, a trajectory that has included opening membership to girls and transgender youths since its 2013–2019 reforms.
The Defense Department is pushing policy changes to Scouting America that critics say target transgender youths, signalling a broader shift in participation rules and program administration.
Anthropic says it will not comply with Pentagon demands on AI safeguards as a looming deadline approaches, signaling a confrontation over how the company’s AI tech should be regulated for military use.
Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei says the company cannot in good conscience accede to the Pentagon's demands on how its AI should be used, citing ethical and safety concerns and signaling a stance on AI governance amid policy debates.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is quietly weighing a broad set of Iran-related military options while trying to avoid direct clashes with President Trump, expressing concerns about the complexity, risks, and casualties of a potential regime-change scenario. He has coordinated a substantial U.S. military buildup in the Middle East, yet emphasizes presenting a full spectrum of options rather than advocating a single path, aiming to insulate the military from politicization while maintaining access to the president and balancing tension with Defense Secretary Hegseth.
The Pentagon has asked Boeing and Lockheed Martin to assess their reliance on Anthropic's Claude as a potential 'supply chain risk,' a move that could lead to designating Anthropic and forcing changes or disengagement in defense use. Anthropic has resisted lifting safeguards on mass surveillance and autonomous weapons, while the DoD weighs options including compelling adjustments or pursuing other vendors for classified AI needs.
Anthropic announced a shift away from its two-year-old Responsible Scaling Policy, scrapping the automatic pause on training more capable models and adopting a flexible Frontier Safety Roadmap that publicly grades safety goals while separating its own safeguards from industry guidelines. The move arrives as Anthropic faces government pressure in a Pentagon dispute over AI red lines, including a deadline from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to roll back safeguards or risk losing a $200 million contract, with safety concerns cited around AI-powered weapons and mass domestic surveillance.
Pentagon's SHIELD program—a $151 billion defense canopy—pushes a fast-track, 2,400+ vendor marketplace via the Missile Defense Agency; being named on the SHIELD list signals opportunity, not guaranteed funding, with participation from stocks like KTOS, LHX, LMT, HII, PLTR and ORCL as awards unfold in staggered tranches in 2025–26.