Share and Follow
According to recent reports, the United States military utilized Anthropic’s AI tool, Claude, during an operation that successfully apprehended Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
In an operation last month, U.S. special operations forces detained Maduro and his wife, bringing them to the United States to confront extensive drug trafficking accusations.
The involvement of Claude came through Anthropic’s collaboration with Palantir Technologies, a data firm whose software is extensively employed by the Department of Defense and federal law enforcement agencies, as detailed by The Wall Street Journal, citing informed sources.
A representative from Anthropic told Fox News Digital, “We cannot comment on the use of Claude or any AI model in specific operations, classified or otherwise. Any deployment of Claude — in private or governmental contexts — must adhere to our Usage Policies, which dictate the permissible applications of Claude. We actively engage with our partners to ensure these regulations are followed.”
Anthropic’s guidelines explicitly prohibit the use of Claude for activities involving violence, the development of weapons, or surveillance practices.
A source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital that Anthropic has visibility into classified and unclassified usage and has confidence that all usage has been in line with Anthropic’s usage policy, as well as its partners’ own compliance policies.
Reached by Fox News Digital, the Department of War declined to comment.
Anthropic was the first AI model developer to be used in classified operations by the Department of War, according to the Journal.
Anthropic has raised concerns about how Claude can be used by the Pentagon, prompting officials within the Trump administration to consider canceling its contract worth up to $200 million, which was awarded last summer, the paper reported.
The AI tools can be used for everything from summarizing documents to controlling autonomous drones, the outlet noted.
The Trump administration has prioritized AI development, and in December War Secretary Pete Hegseth said “the future of American warfare is here, and it’s spelled AI.”
“As technologies advance, so do our adversaries,” he said. “But here at the War Department, we are not sitting idly by.”