The US administration has added four more AI companies to its roster of favoured suppliers, with the Pentagon signing agreements with Microsoft, Reflection AI (which has yet to release a publicly-available model), Amazon, and Nvidia that mean their products can be used on classified operations. The companies join OpenAI, xAI, and Google as companies that the Department for Defense can deploy \u201cfor any lawful use.\u201d
\n The phrase \u201cany lawful use\u201d formed the centre of the recent disagreement between Anthropic AI and the US administration, with CEO Darius Amodei claiming that it would let the US government use Anthropic technology to subject the American civilian population to surveillance, and produce autonomous weapons, areas of Anthropic\u2019s use that he wanted walled off. The Pentagon cancelled a $200 million contract with the company, a decision which Anthropic swiftly took to court, claiming millions in lost revenues from the government and others influenced by the government\u2019s decision. The Trump administration termed the company a \u201csupply chain risk\u201d, the first time a US-based company had ever been given such a status. Ensuing statements from government sources described Anthropic as a \u201cwoke\u201d company.
\n The Pentagon\u2019s statement on its new agreements reads, \u201cThe Department will continue to build an architecture that prevents AI vendor lock-in and ensures long-term flexibility for the Joint force.\u201d The technologies will \u201cgive warfighters the tools they need to act with confidence and safeguard the nation against any threat.\u201d The AIs will be used for \u2018Impact Levels\u2019 six (secret data) and seven (the most highly-classified materials) use-cases, helping create what the statement describes as an \u201cAI-first fighting force\u201d.
\n The Pentagon\u2019s current use of generative AI is largely confined to non-classified tasks carried out inside the various defence departments, such as working on document drafting and summary, and research. The new suppliers will help defence forces \u201cstreamline data synthesis\u201d too, but also \u201celevate situational understanding, and augment warfighter decision-making in complex operational environments.\u201d It\u2019s not clear whether those descriptions include domestic deployments inside US borders.
\n The expansion of the raft of AI suppliers to the US military and security forces means it will become more immune to apparent changes of heart by individual vendors affecting military and security operations. By broadening their technological base, the personal whims of individual company leaders become less relevant. Google and Amazon have in the past fired employees for protesting against their companies\u2019 technology being used in weaponry and warfare.
\n Anthropic\u2019s Claude AI had been used on classified material as part of Palantir\u2019s Maven toolset, a role which the most recent signees may replace. However, the company\u2019s Mythos model is reportedly in use currently by the National Security Agency in the context of the platform\u2019s purported cyber warfare and defence abilities. Worldwide, Anthropic\u2019s Mythos is currently under assessment by 40 organisations, of which only 12 have been named, with the UK\u2019s MI5 and the US NSA thought to be among the remaining 28.
\n According to Axios, the US administration may be walking back on its most recent public stance on Anthropic. The website said it had a source in the White House who stated the administration was trying to find ways to \u201csave face and bring \u2019em back in.\u201d Anthropic\u2019s Claude coding model is allegedly still in use by US government security organisations, and has been throughout recent events.
\n According to the White House, the US government \u201ccontinues to proactively engage across government and industry to protect our country and the American people, including by working with frontier AI labs.\u201d
\n(Image source: \u201cBEST OF THE MARINE CORPS \u2013 May 2006 \u2013 Defense Visual Information Center\u201d by expertinfantry is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Licence.)
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\nThe post US government increases AI suppliers and rethinks Anthropic\u2019s role appeared first on AI News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US administration has added four more AI companies to its roster of favoured suppliers, with the Pentagon signing agreements with Microsoft, Reflection AI (which has yet to release a publicly-available model), Amazon, and Nvidia that mean their products can be used on classified operations. The companies join OpenAI, xAI, and Google as companies that [\u2026]<\/p>\n
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