Hegseth gives Anthropic until Friday to back down on AI safeguards(www.axios.com)
51 pointsby rurp4 hours ago4 comments
  • JohnMakin2 hours ago
    Interesting that Amodei is the only major tech executive I can think of at the moment with a spine or any semblance of a moral compass. OpenAI/Google et al. will gleefully comply with any such requests, no matter how dangerous or unethical. The "problem" that the US govt faces here is that they are kind of tacitly admitting Claude has the most powerful models right now, otherwise they would just cancel all contracts and go to Gemini/OpenAI. It feels like a bluff, so they are trying to bully them into compliance.

    > The Pentagon is also considering severing its contract with Anthropic and declaring the company a supply chain risk, which would require a plethora of other companies that work with the Pentagon to certify that Claude isn't used in their workflows.

    If Anthropic believes they are in a position to become the main player in the "AGI" space, they should just say "ok then" and let this happen. Their growth strategy looks realistic and sustainable and not necessarily relying on sleazy defense contracts (aka making the taxpayer subsidize their growth, as is so common lately) - it would probably give them a lot of good will with consumers too.

    However, I've yet to see in the last 10-15 years a major tech company make the "right" choice so I am probably just wishcasting.

  • FrustratedMonky3 hours ago
    The military dependence on AI was a key point in Project 2027.

    "The President is troubled. Like all politicians, he’s used to people sucking up to him only to betray him later. He’s worried now that the AIs could be doing something similar. Are we sure the AIs are entirely on our side? Is it completely safe to integrate them into military command-and-control networks?69 How does this “alignment” thing work, anyway? OpenBrain reassures the President that their systems have been extensively tested and are fully obedient. Even the awkward hallucinations and jailbreaks typical of earlier models have been hammered out."

  • frogperson3 hours ago
    This is fascism. What law are they breaking? What authority does hegseth have? This feels alot like the threat of state violence to silent dissent.
    • mindslight3 hours ago
      Basically yes. The Trump regime is made up of the absolute worst kind of people. They seem utterly incapable of comprehending real solutions to any of the problems that we face. The only thing they know how to do is bark orders to do whatever simple thing can fit inside their own heads, and then resort to bullying if the target does not comply. It is prudent to avoid giving such people any more capabilities, which will inevitably be abused to harm our society. And the really sad part is how many otherwise-intelligent people they fooled (and continue to fool) with their hollow chest-thumping.