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Statement on the comments from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth

anthropic.com

331–340 of 392 posts

Re: Statement on the comments from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth

#331
post #171

> we believe that mass domestic surveillance of Americans constitutes a violation of fundamental rights Mass surveillance of people constitutes a violation of fundamental rights. The red line is in the wrong place.

Yeah, but you can’t contract your software to the department of defense and then demand that they not use it to surveil foreigners. If that’s the line you want to draw, you’d have to avoid working with them in the first place.

Re: Statement on the comments from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth

#332
post #306

I just want to point out how 1984 fascist dictatorship it still feels to call it “the department of war”. That’s not normal. None of this is normal.

In 1984, they called it the “ministry of peace”. If anything “defense” is more euphemistic than “war”.

Re: Statement on the comments from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth

#333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it a literal supply chain risk, though? They want their products to not be used for some purposes. That's fine, that is their right. But that doesn't just stop at direct purchases. If the US buys from a defense contractor who bought from abthropic, that really isn't that different from buying direct. The moral hazard is still there and the risk that anthropic will try to prevent their product from being used in…

> I think anthropic wants their cake and to eat it too. You can't take a principled stand against something and then be shocked the thing you are taking a principled stand against might think you are a risk. Is it a principled stand or not? In your first comment, you said 'anthropic's "moral" stances are bullshit', their actions here are merely (or at least primarily) a successful marketing exercise, and the result i…

> Is it a principled stand or not

I believe that anthropic is trying to frame it that way. My point is that if you accept their framing then this whole thing falls apart. That is true regardless of if its actually principled or not.

> Are you now acknowledging that it's a costly, risky action on Anthropic's part?

I'll acknowledge its a risky strategy. Whether its costly depends on the result of that risk.

Re: Statement on the comments from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth

#334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it a literal supply chain risk, though? They want their products to not be used for some purposes. That's fine, that is their right. But that doesn't just stop at direct purchases. If the US buys from a defense contractor who bought from abthropic, that really isn't that different from buying direct. The moral hazard is still there and the risk that anthropic will try to prevent their product from being used in…

> If the US buys from a defense contractor who bought from abthropic, that really isn't that different from buying direct. The moral hazard is still there and the risk that anthropic will try to prevent their product from being used in that fashion is still there. You need to look closer at how the government is trying to use the 'supply chain risk' designation. Hegseth said this: > Effective immediately, no contract…

>You need to look closer at how the government is trying to use the 'supply chain risk' designation. Hegseth said this:

>> Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic.

If Anthropic is really serious about their moral stances they could themselves refuse to sell indirectly to us military. Militarirs are ultimately about killing people. So yes, if the supply chain risk is that anthropic might suddenly pull out of military projects and leave people depending on them high and dry, this seems like an appropriate response.

Re: Statement on the comments from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth

#335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is, even if the Trump admin is misrepresenting what the law actually says, federal contractors may decide it is safer to comply with the administration’s reading. The risk is the administration may use their reading to reject a bid. And even if they could potentially challenge that in court and win, they may decide the cheaper and less risky option is to choose OpenAI (or whoever) instead

They would have a very good case against the government if that were to happen. I suspect that the supply chain risk designation will not last long (if it goes into effect).

Some vendors will decide to sue the government. Others may decide that switching to another LLM supplier is cheaper and lower risk.

And I'm not sure your confidence in how the courts will rule is justified. Learning Resources Inc v Trump (the IEEPA tariffs case) proves the SCOTUS conservatives – or at least a large enough subset of them to join with the liberals to produce a majority – are willing sometimes to push back on Trump. Yet there are plenty of other cases in which they've let him have his way. Are you sure you know how they'll judge this case?

Re: Statement on the comments from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth

#336
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually why is nobody in Cali just trying to join Canada - would be better for everyone in terms of more similar culture and values. Weird that it isn't discussed more

If I had to guess as a lifelong California resident, I'd say the salary discrepancy is probably the biggest factor. I'd also guess the weather and lack of available jobs would be the next biggest factors, not necessarily in that order.

Yep, tech peeps loving in Cana want to work in Cali, not so much the other way around, in my experience, not so much the other way around.

Re: Statement on the comments from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth

#338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN is pretty polarised about this - they are either “the good guys” or “doing it for positive marketing”. I’m on the camp “the world is so fucked up, take the good when you can find it”. Beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to taking a stand against dictatorships.

Yeah, the alternative is be OK with their product being used for surveillance. Not sure why it's controversial that they said no, regardless of the reasoning. Yeah there's a lot of marketing speak and things to cover their asses. Let's call them out on that later. Right now let's applaud them for doing the right thing. FWIW I do not think they are the "good guys" (if I had a dollar for every company that had a policy…

> Let's call them out on that later. Right now let's applaud them for doing the right thing.

Yes, yes, yes. When I first read the stuff about this yesterday, my immediate thought was "wait, these are the only two things they have a problem with?"

But they made a stand, and that still matters. We shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. At least it's not Grok.

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