Senators Urge Ceasefire In Pentagon’s Fight With Anthropic

Top senators in charge of defense policy want Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to extend negotiations over the artificial intelligence startup’s red lines on the use of its technology — a request that comes hours before the Pentagon’s Friday evening deadline for Anthropic to lift the restrictions or face severe penalties.

In a letter sent Friday to Hegseth and Amodei and obtained by POLITICO, Senate Armed Services Committee leaders Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) joined top Senate defense appropriators Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) to express “concern over the escalatory direction of negotiations between the Department of Defense and Anthropic.”

In a meeting between Hegseth and Amodei on Tuesday, the Defense secretary threatened to penalize Anthropic unless it drops restrictions by 5:01 p.m. Friday on the use of its AI model Claude to surveil U.S. citizens or power autonomous weapons. Those penalties include labeling the company a supply chain risk and invoking the Defense Production Act to compel the use of Anthropic’s model. Amodei rejected the Pentagon’s demands late on Thursday, though he said the company remains open to negotiations.

The senators call for a ceasefire in the letter, explaining that contract negotiations “are not the ideal context in which to establish policy” and suggesting the two sides are “highly unlikely” to meet Hegseth’s “hasty” Friday deadline.

The lawmakers also warned that invoking the Defense Production Act and labeling Anthropic a supply chain risk “without credible evidence” could impede cooperation between the military and Silicon Valley. And they said that given the ongoing global AI race, the U.S. “cannot afford to take on any preventable risk that would give our adversaries, particularly China, an edge.”

“Simply put, there is no reason to transform this situation into an all-or-nothing moment,” the senators wrote. “We ask both parties to extend the negotiating window and work with Congress to find a solution.”

The existence of the Senate letter was first reported by Axios. Spokespeople for Anthropic and the DOD did not immediately respond to requests for comment.