The United States has declared the AI company Anthropic a supply chain risk, effectively barring one of the world's leading frontier AI developers from supporting the U.S. government. The move comes as China's military accelerates an ambitious AI integration campaign across every warfighting domain - a timing Georgetown University researchers call deeply concerning.
Writing in Foreign Affairs, researchers Sam Bresnick, Emelia S. Probasco, and Cole McFaul argue that "ensuring U.S. national security will require bolstering such partnerships, rather than dramatic public spats," "Hvylya" reports.
Their assessment is grounded in a review of thousands of PLA procurement documents. The Chinese military is prototyping AI capabilities across autonomous vehicles, cyber-operations, satellite targeting, and cognitive warfare - an effort the researchers describe as a "whole-of-force transformation." The PLA is also leveraging China's commercial tech sector through subsidies and tax incentives, accelerating the civilian-to-military technology pipeline.
The researchers argue Washington needs to "embrace closer relationships with frontier AI labs" and contract not just for technology licenses but also for "field engineers and data scientists" to expedite safe AI adoption. The Anthropic situation undermines precisely this kind of partnership at a critical moment in the U.S.-China technology competition.
The U.S. military still holds advantages in computing power, technical talent, and operational experience. But China's defense acquisition process moves far faster: many PLA procurement requests feature short development timelines, enabling rapid prototyping across domains. The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act included provisions to streamline U.S. acquisition, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed a "wartime approach to blockers" delaying AI deployment at the Pentagon.
Also read: Claude Writes 90% of Its Own Training Code. Anthropic Says Full Automation Is Closer Than You Think.