On February 28, the US Military launched Operation Epic Fury, a joint offensive with Israel on Iran. The two forces struck important centres of the Iran government, including nuclear facilities and military infrastructure. As per reports, the US Department of Defense used Anthropic’s Claude AI models during this operation, despite having announced plans to phase out the AI company’s models.
As per the Wall Street Journal and Axios, the US Military used Claude for the operations just hours after US President Donald Trump designated Anthropic as a supply chain risk. The reports state that the AI model was used for intelligence, target selection, and battlefield simulations.
Why did US government use Claude for attack on Iran?
While President Trump has announced that the US government and its agencies will stop using Anthropic’s Claude AI model, it seems the change cannot happen overnight. Claude is currently the only AI model that is embedded on classified networks, and a proper transition period of around 6 months is put in place.
Following Anthropic’s termination from US government purposes, OpenAI signed a deal to work with the US authorities with its own AI models. However, it will take some time before OpenAI’s models can be deployed effectively.
Why did US government terminate Anthropic contract with Pentagon?
President Trump designated Anthropic as a supply chain risk following disagreements over the use of AI for the military. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to allow Claude to be used for domestic mass surveillance or the development of autonomous weapons. Amodei has also stated that the AI startup will challenge the supply chain risk label in court.
OpenAI has reached an agreement with the US Military. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman insists that his company will not allow its models to be used for such instances either.
