PWH Faculty Director Michael C. Horowitz In the News on Anthropic and the Pentagon
Posted: 4th March 2026
Perry World House Faculty Director Michael C. Horowitz has been in the news recently commenting on the dispute between the Anthropic and the Pentagon about the AI company’s contract with the Department of Defense. Click the links below to read Professor Horowitz’s insights.
Quoted in “The High-Stake Fight Between Hegseth and Anthropic“ by Idrees Kahloon, The Atlantic
“What this really boils down to is a lack of trust on Anthropic’s part that the Pentagon will always use their technology appropriately, and a lack of trust on the part of the Pentagon that Anthropic will let them use their technology in all relevant use cases.”
Quoted in “The hypothetical nuclear attach that escalated the Pentagon’s showdown with Anthropic” by Ian Duncan, Elizabeth Dwoskin, and Tara Copp, The Washington Post
“The Pentagon does not trust that Anthropic will be a reliable vendor, and Anthropic worries about misuse of its technology.”
Read here
Quoted in “Pentagon Standoff Is a Decisive Moment for How A.I. Will Be Used in War” by Adam Satariano, Julian E. Barnes, and Sheera Frenkel, The New York Times
“Something like this dispute was inevitable. Because the technology is advancing so quickly, we’re having these debates now. A.I. has moved from being in a niche conversation to something really at the center of global power.”
Read here
Quoted in “AI’s mass surveillance problem” by Ina Fried and Ashley Gold, Axios
“This is about personalities and politics much more than real policy disagreements, especially since Anthropic is willing to work with the Pentagon even on making LLMs capable of powering autonomous weapon systems.”Read hereQuoted in “Trump directs US government agencies to stop using Anthropic products” by Jen Judson, Josh Wingrove, and Maggie Eastland, Bloomberg News
“This would be legally murky territory, and it is not clear how it would turn out,” said Horowitz on the Pentagon’s labeling of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk.
Read here
Quoted in “Tensions between the Pentagon and AI giant Anthropic reach a boiling point” by Jared Perlo and Gordon Lubold, NBC News
“I would be surprised if Anthropic models were the right ones to use for lethal autonomous weapon systems right now, since the algorithms for that will be more bespoke than Claude’s,” said Horowitz. “My sense is that Anthropic wants to increase the depth and scope of their work with the Pentagon. Based on what we know, this sounds like a dispute more over theoretical possibilities than real-world use cases on the table.”
Read hereQuoted in “A ‘Fight About Vibes’ Drove the Pentagon’s Breakup with Anthropic” by Amrith Ramkumar, Keach Hagley, and Marcus Weisgerber, The Wall Street Journal
“This is a fight about vibes and personalities masquerading as a policy dispute,” The dispute comes down to a “breakdown in trust between Anthropic and the Pentagon, where Anthropic doesn’t trust that the Pentagon knows enough to use their technology responsibly and the Pentagon doesn’t trust that Anthropic will be willing to work on important use cases that it needs,” explained Horowitz.
Read hereInterviewed by CNN’s Erica Hill ahead of the Pentagon’s deadline for Anthropic.
Watch hereInterviewed by PBS News Hour’s William Brangham following the Pentagon’s designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk.
Watch hereInterviewed by CNN’s Becky Anderson discussing Anthropic’s loosening of its core safety principle.
Watch hereInterviewed by Carolyn Beeler on The World podcast.
“The Pentagon is very aware that it is in fierce competition with China geopolitically, specifically when it comes to AI leadership and military AI adoption. So the Pentagon from its side is trying to ensure that it has access to all of the most sophisticated tools that American companies have to offer so that the American military can be as effective as possible.”
Listen here