Trump Designated Anthropic a Security Threat Over Two Provisions That Don't Even Apply Yet

The Trump administration's decision to designate AI company Anthropic as a supply-chain risk was triggered by two contractual provisions that would have had virtually no practical effect on the US military, Nobel Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu has pointed out.

As reported by "Hvylya", Acemoglu writes in Project Syndicate that Anthropic's offense was wanting "safeguards against its models being used for mass surveillance of Americans and autonomous weapon systems." The catch: mass surveillance of US citizens is already illegal under US law, and autonomous weapon systems "are not a near-term possibility." Neither provision, the economist notes, "would have placed meaningful restrictions on the defense department in practice."

Yet the response was the most extreme measure available. The supply-chain risk designation - typically reserved for companies from foreign adversaries, such as China's Huawei - bars all federal contractors from doing business with Anthropic. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the scope clear: "No contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic."

For Acemoglu, the disproportionate response reveals the true purpose. For Trump and Hegseth, he writes, "it is the showdown and intimidation of Anthropic that matter. They must demonstrate that they can do as they please." The economist compares this to Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe winning his own national lottery - an act where the damage to norms and institutions "is part of the design."

The Pentagon's overreaction also sent an unintended message, Acemoglu argues. By punishing Anthropic specifically over surveillance and autonomous weapons provisions, the defense department has effectively signaled to the world "that it is intent on mass surveillance and the development of autonomous weapon systems" - because "why else bother about these two ineffective provisions in the contract?"

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