The AI company Anthropic was likely not in the public lexicon just a month ago. But it is now after a whirlwind sequence of events in February thrust the company into the public eye more than ever.

The Pentagon previously requested Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and xAI allow the use of their AI models for “all lawful purposes,” to which Anthropic put up the most resistance over fears its AI models could be used for autonomous weapons systems and mass domestic surveillance.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave the AI company Anthropic an ultimatum about the military's use of its technology, known as Claude.

The Pentagon had kept trying to leave itself little escape hatches in the agreements that it proposed to Anthropic. It would pledge not to use Anthropic’s AI for mass domestic surveillance or for fully autonomous killing machines,

The company objected to hypothetical future use cases, not anything the military is currently doing. The updated feature makes importing preferences and context from other LLMs easier as Claude climbs the app charts. At the outbreak of a new war, Altman is closer than ever to the Pentagon.

The Pentagon's top technology official told CBS News the military has offered compromises to Anthropic, amid a feud over whether its powerful AI technology will be restricted — but Anthropic called the offer inadequate.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has spoken to widening concerns the U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran could spiral into a protracted regional conflict by declaring: “This is not Iraq.

An escalating disagreement between the U.S. Defense Department and Anthropic, an AI company, over how the U.S. military uses Anthropic’s AI model, Claude, came to a head on Tuesday, with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivering an ultimatum to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei in a tense meeting at the Pentagon.