Independent Thinking AI wars: Anthropic battles the Pentagon as China plans ahead
Mar 13, 2026
James Kynge, China tech strategist, and Laurel Rapp, US policy and national security expert, dive into the Anthropic–Pentagon standoff. They discuss corporate red lines versus military access, how China compels AI support for the state, global AI governance being written in contracts, and the race to embed AI across economies and battlefields.
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US Coercion Versus Developer Guardrails
- The Trump administration is using coercive domestic tools to demand maximal access to AI systems, seeking few constraints on military use.
- Anthropic and other firms push back citing unknown risks, arguing for human-in-the-loop limits on lethal force.
Let Legislatures Set AI Rules
- Congress must step in to set durable rules rather than leave AI governance to executive agencies and private contracts.
- Laurel warns legislative absence means fast-moving tech is governed by negotiation between DoD and firms, not law.
Unprecedented Use Of National Security Tools
- Using supply-chain risk designations or the Defense Production Act against a domestic AI firm is unprecedented and politically fraught.
- Other tech firms publicly condemned such measures as inappropriate for domestic companies.