Technology

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is threatening to blacklist Anthropic from working with the U.S. military over the artificial intelligence company's refusal to loosen its safety standards.

The threat came on Tuesday during a meeting between Hegseth and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, according to two people with direct knowledge of the meeting who were not authorized to speak publicly.

While both sides agreed Hegseth vowed to punish Anthropic for not bending to the administration's demands, accounts of what exactly the threat was vary. One person close to the discussion said Hegseth dangled the possibility of canceling Anthropic's $200 million contract with the Defense Department, while a Pentagon official said repercussions could include forcing Anthropic to allow the federal government to use its AI tools against its will and blacklisting the company from receiving future work with the U.S. military.