Anthropic said Thursday that “virtually no progress” had been made in the company’s talks with the Pentagon over the terms of use for its AI models ahead of a Friday afternoon deadline. The

Tensions ramped up following reports that Anthropic technology had been used in the violent abduction of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

Anthropic fears the unrestricted military use of its AI systems by the US government may harm democracy. Military officials have threatened to invoke Cold War-era legislation to force Anthropic to comply.

Anthropic has reached a familiar crossroads for a growing tech company: how to scale without compromising the principles that set it apart.

Debates have long swirled around AI and its use in weapons targeting, the idea of no human involvement still an uncomfortable one.

If the Pentagon carries out its threat to blacklist Anthropic’s Claude AI platform, it could be three months or even longer before the U.S. military regains access to such a powerful tool on its classified networks, according to multiple sources familiar with the fight between the Defense Department and the AI maker.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said on Thursday the company "cannot in good conscience accede" to the military's terms over the use of Claude.