US draws up strict AI guidelines amid Anthropic clash, FT reports

The Pentagon designated Anthropic a “supply-chain risk” on Thursday, barring government contractors from using the AI firm’s technology in work for the US military. That followed a months-long dispute over the company’s insistence on safeguards that the defence department says went too far. A draft of the guidelines reviewed by the FT says AI groups seeking business with the government must grant the US an irrevocable licence to use their systems for all legal purposes.

It would be irresponsible to the American people and dangerous to our nation for GSA to maintain a business relationship with Anthropic “It would be irresponsible to the American people and dangerous to our nation for GSA to maintain a business relationship with Anthropic,” Josh Gruenbaum, commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service, a GSA subsidiary that helps procure software for the federal government, told Reuters by email. “As directed by the president, GSA has terminated Anthropic’s OneGov deal — ending their availability to the executive, legislative, and judicial branches through GSA’s pre-negotiated contracts,” Gruenbaum said. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

The GSA draft mandates that contractors “must not intentionally encode partisan or ideological judgments into the AI systems’ data outputs”, the FT reported. It requires companies to disclose whether their models have been “modified or configured to comply with any non-US federal government or commercial compliance or regulatory framework”, the newspaper said.