Anthropic's CEO says the AI company “cannot in good conscience accede” to the Pentagon’s demands to allow wider use of its technology.

The Pentagon's top technology official told CBS News the military has offered compromises to Anthropic in order to reach a deal with the AI giant, amid a feud over whether its technology will be restricted.

Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said Thursday that the DoD has “no interest” in using Anthropic’s models for fully autonomous weapons or to conduct mass surveillance of Americans, which he noted is illegal. He emphasized that the agency wants the company to agree to allow its models to be used for “all lawful purposes.”

The Pentagon previously requested Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and xAI allow the use of their AI models for “all lawful purposes,” to which Anthropic put up the most resistance over fears its AI models could be used for autonomous weapons systems and mass domestic surveillance.

AI safety and research company Anthropic has told the Pentagon it will not agree to their demands to drop critical safety precautions and grant the U.S. military full access to their AI capabilities.

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.

With less than 24 hours left, Anthropic and the Pentagon are locked in a standoff over access to the company's powerful artificial intelligence. Jo Ling Kenton reports.