As Pentagon-Anthropic feud risks boiling over, military says it's made compromises to AI giant
CBSN
As the U.S. military's partnership with artificial intelligence giant Anthropic teeters on the edge of collapse, the Pentagon's top technology official told CBS News the department has offered compromises in order to reach a deal with the company.
As the U.S. military's partnership with artificial intelligence giant Anthropic teeters on the edge of collapse, the Pentagon's top technology official told CBS News the department has offered compromises in order to reach a deal with the company.
The Pentagon has given Anthropic until Friday at 5:01 p.m. to either let the military use the company's AI model for "all lawful purposes" or risk losing a lucrative Pentagon contract. The AI startup has sought guardrails that explicitly bar its powerful Claude model from being used to conduct mass surveillance of Americans or carry out military operations on its own.
The Pentagon's chief technology officer Emil Michael told CBS News on Thursday that the military has "made some very good concessions."
In reference to Anthropic's concern about mass surveillance, Michael said the Defense Department would "put it in writing that we're specifically acknowledging" federal laws that restrict the military from surveilling Americans. And as to its other concern, Michael said "we're specifically acknowledging these policies that have been in place for years at the Pentagon regarding autonomous weapons." He also said the military invited Anthropic to participate in its AI ethics board.
Asked why the military will not specifically put in writing that Anthropic's model can't be used for mass surveillance of Americans or to make final targeting decisions without human involvement, Michael said those uses of AI are already barred by the law and by Pentagon policies.
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