Pentagon may cut ties with Anthropic over AI use limits

US-based AI firm Anthropic is facing uncertainty as the Pentagon considers ending its partnership over limits on military use of AI models. Reports say its Claude system was used in operations, while concerns over AI also affected global and Indian tech stocks

New Delhi: US-based AI company Anthropic is in the middle of a deeper controversy as the Pentagon (now called the Department of War) is reportedly considering to snap its ties with Dario Amodei-run firm over its insistence on “maintaining some limitations” on how the US military uses its AI models.

Anthropic’s AI model Claude was reportedly used in the US military’s operation to capture ‌former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (through its partnership with AI software firm Palantir), as per a Wall Street Journal report.

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Now, the Pentagon ‌is reportedly “considering ending its relationship with artificial ​intelligence company Anthropic”, reports Axios, citing ‌an administration official.

“Everything’s on the table, including dialling back the partnership with Anthropic or severing it entirely,” the official was quoted as saying.

An Anthropic spokesperson said it remains “committed to using frontier AI in support of U.S. national security.”

However, it would be difficult for the US military to immediately replace Claude, because “the other model companies are just behind”.

Anthropic signed a contract valued up to $200 million with the Pentagon last year.

According to reports, the Pentagon is pushing four AI companies to let the military ‌use their tools for “all lawful purposes”. The other companies are OpenAI, Google and Musk’s xAI.

Claude is a next generation AI assistant built by Anthropic and trained to be safe, accurate, and secure.

Meanwhile, concerns over software stocks globally impacted Indian IT stocks as Anthropic expanded its enterprise AI assistant with a new automation layer designed to handle complete business workflows. Investors caution of artificial intelligence replacing significant portions of the software business resulted in a massive sell-off now known as the “SaaSpocalypse.”

The new AI assistant could automate legal document reviews, compliance checks, sales planning, marketing campaign analysis, financial reconciliation, data visualisation, SQL‑based reporting and enterprise‑wide document search, the reports said.