Last week, contract negotiations broke down between the artificial intelligence company Anthropic and the Department of Defense over Anthropic’s attempt to maintain guardrails on DOD’s use of its technology. The administration’s message was clear: It will tolerate no such limits or constraints. 

The dispute is happening against the backdrop of an administration whose actions in the world are increasingly aggressive, interventionist and independent, with existing checks and balances failing to restrain it. It also comes at a time when AI is still in development and the extent of its power, and danger, is not yet fully understood. In other words, it is a tool you want in the hands of responsible actors, not impulsive ones. 

The administration of President Donald Trump is the latter. It has begun a war of choice with Iran that is violently affecting at least 11 countries in the region already. It just launched military operations in Ecuador. The U.S. military has been blowing up boats in the Caribbean on flimsy pretenses for six months, and it abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at the start of the year. None of these acts has been authorized by Congress or followed a period of public debate designed to make the case to the American people. 

This administration’s officials speak about war like it’s a video game without real-life consequences. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is........

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