It's the Brian Laris Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. So let's talk about a standoff in the war

that's not between the U.S. and Iran. You may have heard this, you may have not heard this.

It's between the U.S. and the artificial intelligence company Anthropic. Now, Anthropic has

certain ethical guidelines that it tries to abide by in its AI product known as Claude.

They want to adhere to these ethical standards, even though they are a defense

contractor voluntarily doing business with the Pentagon. This is a war-specific dispute, yes,

but it also raises questions for so much of the growing use of artificial intelligence

in so many parts of society and so many aspects of our lives. But on this specific story,

here's where the drama began. Last July, Anthropic became the first AI company to receive a

contract with the Department of War, or still Department of Defense, if you prefer. In this

contract, Anthropic was granted national security

clearances, which allowed Claude to be used on the military's classified networks, making it the first

AI model ever to operate at that level. But baked into that contract was a catch. Anthropic' own terms of service, which prohibit Claude from being used in autonomous

weapon systems, we'll explain what that means, or for the mass surveillance of American

citizens.

You probably know what that means.

The clause is now at the center of a standoff that has put the company's

entire relationship with the federal government at risk and is even raising new questions about

possible abuse of power by Trump and Secretary Pete Hexeth. Let's discuss. With me now is Stephen

Levy, editor at large for Wired. He wrote an article called AI Safety and the War Machine

just before the U.S. launched this war. Now it's doubly relevant. Stephen, thanks for joining us.

Welcome to WN.YC.

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