Fordel StudiosWho’s really running AI? Inside the billion-dollar battle over regulation with Alex Bores
What Happened
The Pentagon is playing chicken with Anthropic over who gets to control how the military uses AI while communities across the country are blocking data center construction. As the AI debate has been flattened to “doomers versus boomers,” one state legisla
Our Take
Anthropic's drawing a line on military AI use — no mass surveillance, no fully autonomous weapons. Look, I respect the nerve, but they're negotiating with the Pentagon. The Pentagon has infinite lawyers and 14 fiscal years of budget authority. Anthropic's bet is that ethics beats leverage. That's a losing hand in defense contracting. Either they'll cave eventually (see: every defense contractor ever) or they'll stay principled and lose the deal. Either way, the regulation battle never lands on their terms.
What To Do
The Pentagon doesn't negotiate on control; Anthropic's principled stand works as hiring optics, not procurement leverage.
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