Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, will head to the Pentagon on Tuesday to meet with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about how the military uses the company’s artificial intelligence models. And it’s likely to be a tense meeting, as sources first told Axios.

Contract talks between the AI startup and the Department of Defense have gone off course in recent weeks as Anthropic has insisted on some safeguards for how its technology will be used. While the San Francisco-based company is willing to loosen some of its usage restrictions for the Department of Defense, it doesn’t want its models used for at least two specific purposes: spying on Americans or developing autonomous weapons.

Heading into Tuesday’s meeting, the two factions seem to have differing views on how those contract talks have been proceeding. While a spokesperson for Anthropic said in a statement Monday that the company is having “productive conversations, in good faith” with the Pentagon, a Defense Department spokesman said last week that Anthropic’s relationship with the Pentagon is under review.

“Anthropic knows this is not a get-to-know-you meeting,” a senior Defense official told Axios. “This is not a friendly meeting.”

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ANTHROPIC’S ROLE IN NATIONAL SECURITY

Anthropic is currently the only AI company available in the military’s classified networks and was among several companies awarded a $200 million contract with the Defense Department to in July “advance U.S. national security.” 

The company has repeatedly reiterated its commitment to supporting national security, including again on Monday. In June, it announced Claude Gov, a suite of models it built exclusively for U.S. national security customers.

And yet, Amodei has become vocal about balancing the opportunities that AI presents with the concerns that it poses. In a lengthy piece published last month, the Anthropic co-founder warned: “Humanity is about to be handed almost unimaginable power, and it is deeply unclear whether our social, political, and technological systems possess the maturity to wield it.”

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