Tags: mass surveillance

Anthropic sued the Department of Defense after being labeled a supply‑chain risk for refusing to enable domestic mass surveillance and fully autonomous lethal weapons. Hours later, nearly 40 engineers, researchers and scientists from OpenAI and Google filed an amicus brief supporting Anthropic, warning that the designation threatens public interest and that the two red lines reflect genuine risks. The brief emphasized concerns about AI‑driven mass surveillance and the unreliability of autonomous weapons, calling for technical safeguards or usage restrictions. Lire la suite

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei announced that the company will contest a Defense Department designation labeling its AI products a supply‑chain risk. The move follows a Pentagon notice that the designation is effective immediately. Amodei expressed belief that the action is not legally sound and said the firm has no choice but to pursue legal action. While the restriction applies to defense use, Anthropic’s Claude chatbot remains available to the public and commercial partners such as Microsoft. The company continues discussions with the department to explore permissible ways to serve the Pentagon without violating its exceptions on mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. Lire la suite

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that the company will revise its contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to explicitly forbid the use of its artificial‑intelligence system for mass surveillance of Americans. In an internal memo shared on X, Altman detailed new language tying the restriction to the Fourth Amendment and other applicable laws, and said he would prefer jail over complying with an unlawful order. The move follows a broader government debate over AI guardrails, pressure on rival Anthropic to drop safeguards, and a recent surge in Anthropic’s popularity after the policy shift. Lire la suite

Claude, Anthropic's AI chatbot, has risen to the number one spot on the US Apple App Store chart following Anthropic's decision to decline a contract with the US Department of War over safety concerns. The move contrasts with OpenAI’s acceptance of a similar deal for ChatGPT, prompting many users to abandon ChatGPT and switch to Claude. President Donald Trump has called Anthropic a radical‑left AI company and urged agencies to stop using Claude, though the tool remains in use across several government bodies, including the White House and US Central Command. Lire la suite

OpenAI announced a new agreement with the Pentagon that it says respects its safety principles on domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weapon systems. Critics point out that the deal relies on the phrase “any lawful use,” which they argue could allow broad government use of the technology. Anthropic refused a similar contract, was labeled a supply‑chain risk, and has drawn industry support. The dispute highlights differing approaches to AI safety, legal compliance, and the role of technical safeguards in military applications. Lire la suite

OpenAI announced a contract with the U.S. Defense Department to place its artificial‑intelligence models within the agency’s network. The agreement includes two core safety principles—prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and a requirement for human responsibility over the use of force, including autonomous weapon systems. OpenAI will provide technical safeguards, assign engineers to work with the department, and run the models on cloud infrastructure, with a pending partnership to use Amazon Web Services for enterprise customers. The deal comes as rival Anthropic declined a similar government offer, citing concerns over surveillance and weaponization. Lire la suite

Anthropic faces a standoff with the U.S. Department of War over a request for unrestricted access to its AI technology. As the Pentagon’s deadline looms, more than 300 Google employees and over 60 OpenAI employees have signed an open letter urging their companies to stand with Anthropic and reject the military’s push for use of AI in domestic mass surveillance and fully autonomous weaponry. The letter asks executives at Google and OpenAI to uphold Anthropic’s red lines, while company leaders have not yet issued formal responses. Informal comments suggest sympathy for Anthropic’s position, and the dispute highlights broader tensions over AI ethics and government demand. Lire la suite

Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei has declined a request from the U.S. Department of Defense to remove safety guardrails from the company’s Claude AI models. Amodei argues that frontier AI systems are not yet reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons and that removing ethical constraints would jeopardize both safety and civil liberties. While affirming the strategic importance of AI for national defense, he stresses that current models cannot replace the critical judgment of trained troops. The refusal puts a $200 million Pentagon contract at risk. Lire la suite

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic a deadline of 5:01 PM on Friday to drop safety safeguards on its Claude AI system, threatening to cancel a $200 million contract and label the firm a supply‑chain risk. CEO Dario Amodei responded that Anthropic cannot in good conscience comply, insisting on keeping the safeguards while remaining willing to support the military. The Pentagon’s request would allow Claude to be used for mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons, a use case Anthropic refuses. The standoff raises questions about AI safety, government contracts, and potential alternatives such as Grok, Google’s Gemini, and OpenAI. Lire la suite

The EU Council has reached a compromise on the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation, allowing messaging services to choose whether to scan all user chats for illegal content. While the change preserves end‑to‑end encryption by removing a mandatory backdoor, the text still permits forced scanning for services deemed “high‑risk” and introduces privacy‑sensitive age‑verification requirements. Privacy experts warn that the “voluntary” model may still enable mass surveillance and censorship, and they urge the European Parliament and Commission to resist any erosion of digital rights. The agreement now moves to trilogue negotiations, with a final adoption expected next year. Lire la suite

Microsoft announced it has stopped providing Azure cloud storage and certain AI services to the Israeli Ministry of Defense after an internal investigation linked the unit’s use of its technology to the storage of surveillance data on Palestinian phone calls. The decision follows a Guardian report about Unit 8200’s use of Azure and reflects Microsoft’s long‑standing policy against facilitating mass civilian surveillance. The company said the review is ongoing, while employee activism and protests have intensified around Microsoft’s ties to Israel. Lire la suite

Microsoft has terminated a unit of the Israeli defense ministry's access to its Azure cloud services after determining that the platform was being used for mass surveillance of Palestinian civilians. The decision follows an external review and internal pressure from employees and investors. Microsoft executives, including Brad Smith, emphasized the company's longstanding policy against facilitating civilian surveillance, and the move reflects heightened scrutiny of technology partnerships in conflict zones. Lire la suite