The standoff between the Pentagon and AI company Anthropic has now has a new party – the US Congress. Senators from both sides of the aisle are reportedly calling on the Department of War to withdraw its Friday 5pm ultimatum against Anthropic, arguing that the decision of this magnitude cannot be made without legislative oversight, and that the Congress must be included in the debate over military use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
What lawmakers are saying on the Pentagon vs Anthropic issue
According to a report by Axios, Democratic and Republican senators have made two demands: First is to stay the Friday ultimatum and, second, that Congress Congress must be brought into the process of establishing clear rules governing the use of AI in military operations.
“Why in the hell are we having this discussion in public?. Why isn’t this occurring in a boardroom or in the secretary’s office? I mean, this is sophomoric. It’s fair to say that Congress needs to weigh in if they have a tool that could actually result in mass surveillance,” (Rep.) Senator Thom Tillis, a member of the Armed Services Committee, was quoted as saying.
“The deadline is incredibly tight. That should not be the case if you’re dealing with mass surveillance of civilians. You’re also dealing with the potential use of lethal force without a human in the loop. There’s a contract in place that was signed with the administration, and now they’re trying to break it,” added Senator Gary Peters.
According to Senator Elissa Slotkin, this is a “fundamental issue of our time”, and “This is happening because Congress has not put clear limits — left or right — on the use of AI in lethal weapon systems.”
Senator Mark Kelly was more direct. “DOD is trying to strong-arm Anthropic into providing every tool they have to surveil US citizens. I have serious concerns about that. That’s unconstitutional. That’s not the role of the Department of Defense.”
Where things stand between the Pentagon and Anthropic
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said that there has been “virtually no progress” in negotiations with the Pentagon. Anthropic has refused to accept Pentagon and US defence secretary Pete Hegseth’s contract terms that would allow its Al to be used without limits on domestic surveillance and autonomous lethal weapons. The refusal came hours before the Friday deadline of 5:01pm. If Anthropic refuses, Hegseth reportedly warned he will either declare the company a “supply chain risk” or invoke the Defence Production Act, which would compel Anthropic to modify Claude to meet the military’s requirements.
On Wednesday, a report said that the Pentagon began contacting major defence contractors to assess how dependent they are on Claude.
