Pentagon Threatens AI Firm Over Ethical Safeguards

Breaking news. The Pentagon is reportedly threatening to blacklist an American AI company for refusing to remove ethical safeguards on its technology. This is Daniel J. Harris, and the story we're following tonight is not just a contract dispute. It's being called a direct assault on corporate conscience and constitutional principles. At the center of the storm is artificial intelligence lab Anthropic, co-founded by Dario Amodei. The company is locked in a high-stakes standoff over a $200 million military contract. The breaking point? Anthropic's refusal to allow its Claude AI model to be used for mass domestic surveillance or to create fully autonomous killer robots. In response, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reportedly close to cutting ties and taking an unprecedented step, designating Anthropic a supply chain risk. That's a national security label typically reserved for foreign adversaries. Sources tell Axios such a move would force any US military contractor to drop Anthropic's technology or be shut out of Pentagon business, creating what one official called an enormous pain in the ass to disentangle. The chilling message to the entire tech sector: align with the military's demands for unlimited power or be destroyed. The Pentagon's key demand is that AI ...