Google and OpenAI employees support the Pentagon’s Anthropic stance in an open letter

Anthropic has reached its peak with the United States Department of Defense request for unlimited access to the company’s AI technology. But it’s the Pentagon Friday afternoon is the last day for Anthropic’s follow-up process, more than 300 Google employees and more than 60 OpenAI employees have signed on. an open letter encourage their industry leaders to support Anthropic and reject this joint use.

Specifically, Anthropic argued against the use of AI in mass surveillance and autonomous devices. The signatories of the open letter want to encourage employers to “put aside their differences and stand together” to maintain the limits Anthropic has proposed.

“They are trying to divide each company out of fear that the others will fail,” the letter said. “This method works when no one knows where the others stand.”

The letter specifically calls on administrators at Google and OpenAI to maintain Anthropic’s red lines against crowdsourcing and automated tools. “We hope our leaders will put aside their differences and stand together to continue to resist the demands of the Department of Defense.”

The company’s executives have yet to officially respond to the letter. TechCrunch has reached out to Google and OpenAI for comment.

However, anecdotal evidence suggests that both companies are listening to Anthropic’s side of the case. In an interview with CNBC on Friday morning, CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman he said that he “doesn’t think the Pentagon should threaten a DPA against these companies.” According to a CNN reporter, a spokesperson for OpenAI it has been confirmed that the company shares Anthropic’s red lines against autonomous devices and mass surveillance.

Google DeepMind has not settled the controversy, but Chief Scientist Jeff Dean, perhaps speaking privately, has criticized the government’s extensive monitoring.

“Mass surveillance violates the Fourth Amendment and interferes with free speech,” Dean said. he wrote at X. “Surveillance methods are often misused for political or discriminatory purposes.”

According to Axios report, the military can now use X’s Grok, Google’s Gemini, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT for undisclosed tasks, and has been in talks with Google and OpenAI to bring its technology to public use.

Although Anthropic has an existing partnership with the Pentagon, the AI ​​company has remained tight-lipped about keeping its AI from being used to monitor large numbers of people in the home, or autonomous weapons.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei that if his company does not agree, the Pentagon will declare that Anthropic is a “threat to manufacturing products” or invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) to force the company to comply with military requirements.

In speech on ThursdayAmodei retained responsibility for his company. “These last two threats are inherently contradictory: one tells us we are a security risk; the other says Claude is essential to national security,” he said. “Regardless, these threats do not change our opinion: we cannot in good conscience accept their request.”