Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) accused the Pentagon of retaliating against AI firm Anthropic. The Department of Defense recently designated the company a supply chain risk. This label effectively bars the firm from securing future government contracts.
Warren questioned the decision in a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. She suggests the move punishes Anthropic for its refusal to remove AI safety guardrails. These restrictions prevent the technology from being used in autonomous weapons or mass surveillance.
The Pentagon typically reserves the supply chain risk designation for foreign adversaries. Warren noted the blacklisting coincided with rival OpenAI securing expanded defense agreements.