A former Uber executive and a private equity billionaire are working with Pete Hegseth to make Anthropic cave on its ethics policies.

The Pentagon has threatened to cancel Anthropic’s contract by Friday if the company does not agree to the department’s terms for the use of its AI model, sources confirmed to The Hill on Tuesday.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is pressuring Anthropic to give the military broader access to its artificial intelligence technology or lose its Pentagon contract.

Anthropic insists on limits on how its technology is used and could be labeled a supply chain risk if it fails to accept the military’s demands.

Fears of militarising AI run deep at the two model-makers. At least until recently, both had safeguards against using AI to make weapons (the DOW has demanded that these be scrapped). The pair are also alert to the risk of losing their brainy AI researchers, many of whom come from abroad and may not share the Trump administration’s ideology.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei a Friday deadline to comply with demands to peel back safeguards on its AI model or risk losing a Pentagon contract.

Over the last week, tensions between the Pentagon and artificial intelligence giant Anthropic have reached a boiling point.

The Pentagon has failed eight straight audits, and is the only major federal agency to not pass an independent audit.

The Pentagon’s shift towards long-term procurement contracts, rather than temporary year-by-year funding, is a welcome step in improving America’s ailing defense industry.