Defense

Steve Bannon sides with Anthropic in fight with Pentagon: ‘It’s almost too dangerous’

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by Ellen Mitchell - 04/17/26 1:06 PM ET

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by Ellen Mitchell - 04/17/26 1:06 PM ET

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Former White House strategist Steve Bannon said he believes artificial intelligence company Anthropic “had it right” in demanding its technology not be used in fully autonomous lethal weapons, setting off a fight with the Pentagon.

The Pentagon has insisted it be allowed to use Anthropic’s Claude for “all lawful uses” and last month labeled the company as a supply chain risk — typically reserved for foreign adversaries — after negotiations over safety guardrails fell apart.

“I think Anthropic had it right,” Bannon said Thursday at the Semafor World Economy conference.

“It’s very, very complicated. I really respect [Defense Secretary] Pete Hegseth … but I think in this situation, right, it’s almost too dangerous,” Bannon continued. “That’s why you need a sort of atomic energy commission, you need some sort of modicum of [regulation].”

Anthropic, founded with a focus on transparency and basic guardrails, sued the Pentagon for blacklisting the company after it would not allow its AI to be used without restrictions on domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. The firm argues AI is not reliable enough to make life-or-death decisions while changing what is possible with government surveillance.

The Pentagon rejected Anthropic’s argument and, after it labeled the company as a supply chain risk, President Trump ordered all federal agencies to immediately stop using Anthropic products.

Anthropic has provided the Defense Department and intelligence agencies with its technology since late 2024 through a partnership with Palantir.

The fight has left federal agencies and their contractors grappling with how to remove a major AI vendor from federal supply chains.

But in a sign tensions are thawing, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is set to meet White House chief of staff Susie Wiles on Friday, Axios reported.

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