The Morning Brief Who Controls AI in an Age of War?
Mar 17, 2026
Abishur Prakash, geopolitical strategist and author focused on tech and security, joins to unpack the clash between companies and governments over AI access. He discusses Anthropic’s ethical stand, OpenAI’s classified pivot, sovereign AI challenges in Europe, and how AI could shift from targeting to driving battlefield decisions. The conversation maps two futures: corporate alignment with states or government-built alternatives.
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AI Firms Setting Their Own Ethical Red Lines
- AI companies now set ethical and geopolitical guardrails that limit military uses of their models.
- Abishur Prakash contrasts Anthropic's refusal to give unrestricted targeting access with governments demanding carte blanche access, creating a new tech-government clash.
Companies Picking Sides Since Russia's 2022 Invasion
- Prakash cites Anthropic's stance as part of a broader corporate trend post-2022 where firms take geopolitical positions.
- He references companies exiting markets after Russia's 2022 invasion as examples of businesses prioritizing politics over profits.
New Battle Over Who Controls AI Use
- The emerging battle is between AI companies' doctrinal limits and governments' desire to use AI without restriction.
- Prakash frames this as a new front where companies decide ideology via training data and coded guardrails while states seek operational freedom.