Dario Amodei, co-founder and chief executive officer of Anthropic, during the company’s Builder Summit in Bengaluru, India, on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026.
Samyukta Lakshmi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Thursday said it “cannot in good conscience” agree to the Department of Defense’s requests, adding that the agency’s threats do not change its position.
The artificial intelligence startup has been engaged in tense negotiations with the Pentagon over how its models can be used, and it said Thursday that those discussions are still ongoing.
Anthropic wants assurance that its models will not be used for fully autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance of Americans, while the DoD wants to be able to use the models for all lawful use cases without limitation.
“It is the Department’s prerogative to select contractors most aligned with their vision,” Amodei wrote in a statement. “But given the substantial value that Anthropic’s technology provides to our armed forces, we hope they reconsider.”
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