Lutnick Trusts Anthropic Again: AI Safeguards & Pentagon

US commerce boss Howard Lutnick says he trusts Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei again. This marks a shift after previous disputes regarding AI safeguards and military use. Lutnick told Axios that Anthropic has "done what we asked" and is "back on the right side." This follows the Pentagon previously designating Anthropic as a "supply-chain risk." The Pentagon had moved to restrict federal government and defense contractors from working with the company. What's interesting is that a federal judge in California recently ruled the Pentagon's designation violated the law. The court found it "constituted unlawful retaliation in violation of the First Amendment." However, the relationship may not be fully repaired. An Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering stated on X that Anthropic is still considered a supply-chain risk by the Defense Department. The core of the dispute involved Anthropic's refusal to allow its AI, Claude, for domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. The Pentagon had argued these restrictions could limit the technology's usefulness in military situations. This situation highlights ongoing tensions between AI developers and government agencies over technology's ethical use.