The Pentagon asked two major defense contractors on Wednesday to provide an assessment of their reliance on Anthropic’s AI model, Claude — a first step toward a potential designation of Anthropic as a “supply chain risk,” Axios has learned.
Why it matters: That penalty is usually reserved for companies from adversarial countries, such as Chinese tech giant Huawei.
Using it to punish a leading American tech firm, particularly one on which the military itself is currently reliant, would be unprecedented.
Driving the news: The Pentagon reached out to Boeing and Lockheed Martin on Wednesday to ask about their exposure to Anthropic, two sources with knowledge of those conversations said.
Boeing Defense, Space and Security, a division of Boeing, has no active contracts with Anthropic, a spokesperson said.
A Boeing executive told Axios: “We sought their partnership [in the past] and ultimately could not come to an agreement. They were somewhat reluctant to work with the defense industry.”
A Lockheed spokesperson confirmed the company was contacted by the Defense Department regarding an analysis of its exposure and reliance on Anthropic ahead of “a potential supply chain risk declaration.”
The Pentagon plans to reach out to “all the traditional primes” — meaning the major contractors that supply things like fighter jets and weapons systems — about whether and how they use Claude, a source familiar told Axios.
Scoop: Pentagon takes first step toward blacklisting Anthropic
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