'Straight up lies': Anthropic CEO attacks OpenAI's US military announcement
in leaked memo as new report suggests company is back in talks with Pentagon

Date:
Thu, 05 Mar 2026 17:53:09 +0000

Description:
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has been having his say about the complicated events of recent days.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Get the TechRadar Newsletter Sign up for
breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are
now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has sent out a lengthy internal memo It attacks OpenAI's messaging around its new Pentagon deal Anthropic and Claude may
still be in talks with the US government If you thought the debate around AI company dealings with the US military was going to simmer down, think again: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has rather candidly accused rival OpenAI of
telling "straight up lies" about its agreements with the Pentagon.

Late last week, Anthropic stepped away from a new deal with US intelligence, citing safety concerns over the use of AI in mass surveillance (especially on domestic citizens) and fully autonomous weapons. In response, US officials
and the President himself declared that Anthropic's AI bot Claude would no longer be used by government agencies. OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman swiftly
moved in , announcing their own deal with the US military that apparently had "more guardrails" than the one offered to Anthropic. Users were far from convinced about the ethics: in the days since, ChatGPT uninstalls have risen sharply, and Claude has rapidly risen up the App Store charts . You may like Anthropics Super Bowl ad trolled OpenAI and Sam Altman is fuming We cannot in good conscience accede to their request: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei draws a line in the sand in standoff with US government Sam Altman regrets rushed defense deal as ChatGPT uninstalls surge by 295%

In an internal memo (via The Information ), Amodei's response has been to question OpenAI's claims. He calls OpenAI's overall messaging "mendacious", and suggests it includes phrases like "safety layer" that don't fully hold
up. In Amodei's opinion, a lot of the reassurances OpenAI has given are "safety theater". OpenAI is "placating employees" OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
(Image credit: Getty Images / Tomohiro Ohsumi/Stringer) Amodei goes on to say that OpenAI is more concerned with "placating employees" than actually safeguarding the use of AI, and questions the caveat in the Pentagon deal
that mentions "all lawful use" something which can be rather a gray area
when it comes to issues like domestic surveillance authorizations.

The memo also highlights how AI can be fooled and misused in the most basic way, by simply lying to it about the nature of the data it's processing
while emphasizing Anthropic's focus on safety and security. The approaches that OpenAI is taking here "mostly do not work", Amodei says.

OpenAI chief Sam Altman will almost definitely have more to say, and has already admitted the initial OpenAI announcement was "rushed" and "sloppy".
In the meantime, the Financial Times reports that Anthropic and Claude may be finding a way back into a deal with the US military after all though it's
not clear what the terms would be. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals
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The report doesn't add much about the latest negotiations, or how they could potentially impact the OpenAI agreement, but it seems as though the relationship between Anthropic and the US government might not be quite over yet. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/claude/straight-up-lies-anth ropic-ceo-attacks-openais-us-military-announcement-in-leaked-memo-as-new-repor t-suggests-company-is-back-in-talks-with-pentagon


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