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

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic until Friday at 5 p.m. to grant the military unresticted use of its AI technology.

Defense chief Pete Hegseth has threatened to force the company to lift guardrails against greater military use of AI.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has set a Friday deadline for the company to grant full lawful AI to military access or risk losing its $200 million contract and being labeled a supply chain risk.

As well as designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk, the government could also cancel its contract or invoke a Cold War-era law called the Defense Production Act to give the military more sweeping authority to use its products, even if the company doesn’t approve.

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.

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

Anthropic, a company founded by OpenAI exiles worried about the dangers of AI, is loosening its core safety principle in response to competition.