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The Pentagon is making a mistake by threatening Anthropic

understandingai.org

31–40 of 247 posts

Re: The Pentagon is making a mistake by threatening Anthropic

#31

Anthropic has an excellent balance sheet. It basically has fuck you money that would let it walk away from the federal trough without existential risk. And hopefully extra dollars from users like me could compensate and then some in the fullness of time.

Being declared Supply Chain Risk means if you do ANY business with US government, you cannot use something.

So many companies have US Government contracts. Maybe they are not majority of their business like Lockheed Martin or RTX but look at F10, on that list, MAYBE Walmart is only one without US Gov Contract, everyone else likely does.

Re: The Pentagon is making a mistake by threatening Anthropic

#32

Everything about this situation is absolutely bonkers. Marking a US company as a supply chain risk hasn't been done before AFAIK, and is a guaranteed end of the company. It's the US government basically unilaterally deciding to end a leading AI researcher company. Years of lawsuits will follow, comparisons to "communism", accusations of Trump/Heghseth being Chinese/Russia agents (because well, how else do you hand ov…

> is a guaranteed end of the company

Why do you say this?

Re: The Pentagon is making a mistake by threatening Anthropic

#33

I don't have a lot of hope here. When most of the creme de la creme of the billionaire class capitulated to Trump at the beginning of his term, that set the tone for everything that followed IMO. It's astounding to me that so many are willing to see him trample on the Constitution and separation of powers when they'd scream like stuck pigs if any other party attempted it. And that's the way a lot of influential Ameri…

Benito Mussolini: 'Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power.'

That is the reason why they would cry if the other party broke the rules to this degree. The other party is more aligned with regulations; taking power from corporations instead of giving it to them.

Re: The Pentagon is making a mistake by threatening Anthropic

#34

I don't have a lot of hope here. When most of the creme de la creme of the billionaire class capitulated to Trump at the beginning of his term, that set the tone for everything that followed IMO. It's astounding to me that so many are willing to see him trample on the Constitution and separation of powers when they'd scream like stuck pigs if any other party attempted it. And that's the way a lot of influential Ameri…

Benito Mussolini: 'Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power.' That is the reason why they would cry if the other party broke the rules to this degree. The other party is more aligned with regulations; taking power from corporations instead of giving it to them.

> Benito Mussolini: 'Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power.'

He literally named it [1]!

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Fascist_Party

Re: The Pentagon is making a mistake by threatening Anthropic

#35

Article doesn’t demonstrate a good understanding of DoW’s relationship with contractors. Anthropic wanted those sweet, sweet, taxpayer dollars—well, this is what happens when you make a Faustian bargain. > One option is to invoke the Defense Production Act. . . > Another threat would be to declare Anthropic to be a supply chain risk. . . The first is a wrist-slap that still gets the government what they want; the sec…

> Remind me again how good this administration is at upholding norms?

When it comes to killing and spying on people with flimsy justifications that's a pretty bipartisan norm. Hell, Anthropic isn't even saying they won't help the DoW do just that, they just want to make sure there's a human in the loop.

The "USA Freedom Act" [1], which made most of the Patriot act permanent, had bipartisan support.

I'm all for reversing the continual ramp up of the police state and the industrial military complex. We need to recognize, however, that it's being funded and pushed by both parties. Generally playing on fears of the scary other. (Muslim terrorists in 00s, Mexicans today).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Freedom_Act

Re: The Pentagon is making a mistake by threatening Anthropic

#36
post #26
post #9

This whole standoff could set a very important precedent of the Trump administration not getting what they want, and not in a "maneuvered out of the news spotlight" kind of way (e.g. Greenland), but in a public "FUCK OFF right in your face" kind of way. The worst that can happen to Anthropic is one of the two things mentioned; loosing some contracts or some fake forced management from the Pentagon. maybe Dario having…

>not in a "maneuvered out of the news spotlight" kind of way (e.g. Greenland) I what world has the Greenland stuff been anything but a fuckoff?

> I what world has the Greenland stuff been anything but a fuckoff?

The world in which Europe didn't respond, Americans didn't flip out and Congress didn't push back.

Re: The Pentagon is making a mistake by threatening Anthropic

#37
post #4

the Pentagon is the name of a building (pretty much a very large bikeshed). I see the actual agency is named by the author as the Defense Department and one of the officials in question is a Defense Secretary. Interestingly, the bikeshed itself has its own spokes people.

yet it’s website is the department of war.

Officially, they're the Department of Defense. There was an EO signed last year that lets them use "Department of War" on all but their most official documents (since only Congress can officially change the name of the department).

Re: The Pentagon is making a mistake by threatening Anthropic

#38
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Claude is the best, but Gemini with DoD money could get as good as Claude very easily

Gemini is just the worst of the 3 horses. The gov will eventually make them all to bend the knee. PRISM already showed they(eventually) all comply. I personally see this more like PR for Anthropic before the IPO

So? You can still win the race if you have the third fastest car on the planet.

Re: The Pentagon is making a mistake by threatening Anthropic

#39

Everything about this situation is absolutely bonkers. Marking a US company as a supply chain risk hasn't been done before AFAIK, and is a guaranteed end of the company. It's the US government basically unilaterally deciding to end a leading AI researcher company. Years of lawsuits will follow, comparisons to "communism", accusations of Trump/Heghseth being Chinese/Russia agents (because well, how else do you hand ov…

Just imagine if this move cascaded out of control and it ended up being the Trump administration that got blamed for pricking the AI bubble. This could become one of the most expensive power grabs in all of history.

Re: The Pentagon is making a mistake by threatening Anthropic

#40

Article doesn’t demonstrate a good understanding of DoW’s relationship with contractors. Anthropic wanted those sweet, sweet, taxpayer dollars—well, this is what happens when you make a Faustian bargain. > One option is to invoke the Defense Production Act. . . > Another threat would be to declare Anthropic to be a supply chain risk. . . The first is a wrist-slap that still gets the government what they want; the sec…

The DoD can invoke the DPA on any company it wants. Not really sure how this becomes Anthropic's fault.

They knew what they were signing on to when they sought DoW funding. I guarantee Dario was briefed on the risks associated with high-profile govt contracting.
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