The American Secretary of Defense has asked the company Anthropic to lift the restrictions on the use of its AI by the Pentagon by Friday, otherwise it will resort to legal measures.

Pete Hegseth, the American Secretary of Defense, has given an ultimatum to the artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic, demanding that it lift restrictions on the use of its AI model by the Pentagon by Friday at 24:00, Romania time. If Anthropic does not comply, Hegseth intends to invoke a law from 1950 that allows the government to compel private companies to produce goods for national defense.

Additionally, if they refuse, Anthropic could be included on a list of companies deemed a supply risk, which would drastically restrict their contracts with the government.

The ultimatum came after a meeting between Hegseth and Dario Amodei, the head of Anthropic, who wanted to limit the use of its AI model, Claude, in cases such as mass surveillance and the automation of lethal attacks.

Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees, promotes an ethical approach to AI and has published a document called 'Constitution' to guide the responsible use of its technology.