Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by armchairhacker 103 days ago
Anthropic as a whole isn’t perfect, but in this specific scenario they seem to be.

Or, when Anthropic re-iterates “no murder without human approval, no domestic mass surveillance”, why should the government not only change suppliers (free-market), but label Anthropic a “supply-chain risk”?

1 comments

https://youtu.be/gzwRflcLPAA?si=H1IAFEYoj8qEibNg

If you listen to the government officials explain the situation:

All this began after the Maduro raid, when executives from Anthropic allegedly called an intermediary vendor, Palantir, seeking specifics of how their software was used. Because this is classified information, Palantir refused to disclose it, which led to Anthropic threatening to shut off service to Palantir. Palantir reported this to the pentagon who then contacted Anthropic directly.

Obviously, the military can’t have Palantir’s services suddenly stop working mid-operation because one of their suppliers objects to it. So they can’t risk having Claude anywhere in the supply chain.

Assuming the government isn't lying, then the designation is completely and entirely appropriate. You can substitute out any other vendor, and they'd receive the same treatment.

>All this began after the Maduro raid, when executives from Anthropic allegedly called an intermediary vendor, Palantir, seeking specifics of how their software was used....

Let's see if the govt includes these assertions in their reply brief since such a factual record would obviously help their case.

Cancelling Anthropic's contract, and maybe even restricting Anthropic's use as a component to DoD certain contract work might be reasonable.

However, Anthropic's lawsuits are broader than that - partly because the government's actions were broader than that.

* Trump did post a "truth" ordering all Federal agencies to stop using Claude. Anthropic claims that many federal agencies did stop using Claude, and is suing saying that the order is not lawful.

* Hegseth then posted saying that no DoD contractor can work with Anthropic or use Claude at all. This is much broader order than the actual delivered letter which is much narrower - contractors can use Claude, but you can't use Claude as part of your solutions that you deliver to DoD. Anthropic is claiming damages from the difference between the first announcement, and the actual delivered scope, and is also claiming that the actual order did not follow procedures.

* Finally, Anthropic is claiming that the pattern of behaviour by the administration demonstrate that the administration is not simply trying to protect against supply chain risk, but is actively trying to harm Anthropic out of spite.

Frankly, you just have to read Trump's or Hegseth's posts to just get the vibes that this isn't just a technocratic calculation.

> Assuming the government isn't lying

Found your mistake.

If you sell to the War Department, the CIA, the NSA, or ICE/Border Patrol, you know exactly how it is going to be used.

This after the fact naiveté by Anthropic is crazy.

Speaking as a patriot I’d be incredibly proud if my tool was used in a supporting role for one of the most perfect military operations ever executed.

This would likely be the Hallmark of my advertising for the near future.

Instead, we have anthropic going on a fishing expedition for information to claim a TOS violation and rightfully getting the boot! :)

> If you sell to the War Department, the CIA, the NSA, or ICE/Border Patrol, you know exactly how it is going to be used.

Yes, you know their use of your services will legally be limited by the contact you both signed.

> This after the fact naiveté by Anthropic is crazy.

The real naiveté here is in the government signing a contract they ended up not liking after all, and in viewers who don't realize that there was a signed contract on place already, which included said restrictions.

> Speaking as a patriot I’d be incredibly proud if my tool was used in a supporting role for one of the most perfect military operations ever executed.

The usage we're talking about is exclusively: mass domestic surveillance of civilians; and fully-autonomous killbots which can (and will) be used against those same civilians. Weird pride to have.

You seem awfully excited by the idea of the government performing domestic mass surveillance
When your borders are porous, domestic surveillance becomes foreign surveillance
Assuming the government isn't lying

Explain why I should give the benefit of the doubt to the Trump administration here.

Go on. Explain. Dis gon' be gud.

Sounds like I have my requested explanation. Thanks!