Senate defense leaders privately urged the Pentagon and Anthropic on Friday to resolve a dispute over limits on the use of Anthropic's Claude artificial intelligence model in classified settings, as a Pentagon deadline neared that could end the company's contract and sharpen a broader fight over guardrails for the military's use of AI.
A source familiar with the matter told Axios that Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and ranking member Jack Reed, D-R.I., joined with defense appropriators Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Chris Coons, D-Del., to send a private letter pressing the Pentagon and Anthropic to settle the dispute.
The source said the bipartisan letter also called for the Pentagon to extend its deadline.
Newsmax has contacted the Pentagon and Anthropic for comment.
At issue are limits Anthropic wants to place on the Pentagon's use of Claude, including prohibitions on mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons.
Pentagon officials have said Anthropic has until 5:01 p.m. ET Friday to accept the Pentagon's demands or risk losing its contract.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said Thursday the company would not agree to contract terms that, in its view, fail to prevent Claude's use for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons, while saying Anthropic wants to keep negotiating.
Amodei said that Anthropic believes that today's most advanced AI models cannot safely and reliably support mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons, and that the company considers both uses inconsistent with democratic values.
Amodei added that the Pentagon has told Anthropic it will contract only with AI companies that accept "any lawful use" and remove safeguards tied to mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons.
He said Pentagon officials have threatened to offboard Anthropic, label it a "supply chain risk," and invoke the Defense Production Act if the company does not agree.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a Thursday social media post that the Pentagon wants to use Anthropic's model "for all lawful purposes" and said the military has "no interest" in using AI for mass surveillance of Americans or autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement.
He did not, however, detail the full scope of the military's intended uses.
Reuters reported that the Pentagon could terminate a contract worth as much as $200 million if Anthropic does not agree by the deadline.
The Pentagon has been pressing major AI companies to expand their tools onto classified networks with fewer restrictions, reflecting a broader push to deploy commercial AI across classification levels.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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