Pentagon official claims Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has ‘God-complex’ amid AI row

A top Pentagon official accused Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Thursday of having a “God-complex,” as the Department of Defense (DOD) and the company face off over the terms of use for its AI models.

“It’s a shame that @DarioAmodei is a liar and has a God-complex,” Emil Michael, under secretary of Defense for research and engineering, wrote in a post on social platform X, after Anthropic said it could not accept the Pentagon’s terms.

“He wants nothing more than to try to personally control the US Military and is ok putting our nation’s safety at risk,” Michael continued. “The @DeptofWar will ALWAYS adhere to the law but not bend to whims of any one for-profit tech company.”

The Pentagon and Anthropic have been locked in a dispute in recent weeks over the company’s AI usage policy, which bars its models from being used for mass surveillance or lethal autonomous weapons. The AI firm has made these two issues red lines in its negotiations.

The DOD has pushed for language that would allow for “all lawful uses,” while arguing that they have “no interest” in using AI to conduct mass surveillance or develop autonomous weapons.

Following a Tuesday meeting between Amodei and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the department warned Anthropic that it would cancel its contract if it did not agree to the Trump administration’s terms by Friday at 5:01 p.m. EST. The department also threatened to label the company a “supply chain risk” or invoke the Defense Production Act.

Anthropic was one of four major AI companies to sign a $200 million contract with the DOD last summer. However, its AI model Claude was previously the only one approved for use on the classified side. The Pentagon recently reached a new agreement with xAI to use its model on classified systems.

On Thursday night, Amodei released lengthy statement, saying Anthropic “cannot in good conscience accede” to the Pentagon’s terms.

“Anthropic understands that the Department of War, not private companies, makes military decisions,” the CEO said. “We have never raised objections to particular military operations nor attempted to limit use of our technology in an ad hoc manner.”

“However, in a narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values,” Amodei continued. “Some uses are also simply outside the bounds of what today’s technology can safely and reliably do.”

He added, “Two such use cases have never been included in our contracts with the Department of War, and we believe they should not be included now.”