07:24 AM EST, 02/27/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The CEO of Amazon ( AMZN )-backed (AMZN) Anthropic said Thursday that his company would refuse to allow its AI models to be used by the US military for mass surveillance or autonomous warfare despite an ultimatum to submit to Pentagon demands by Friday.

Chief Executive Dario Amodei said that while his company's technology has been used extensively by the US military and the intelligence services, he would not allow the company's models to be used for mass surveillance of Americans as "incompatible with democratic values."

He also said that AI was not yet suitable for "fully autonomous weapons" that would put "America's warfighters and civilians at risk."

He said the Pentagon insists that contractors "remove safeguards" for both domestic surveillance and autonomous weaponry. "We cannot in good conscience accede to their request," he said.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell denied that the Department of Defense is seeking to conduct mass surveillance of Americans or seeking to "develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement," insisting that it only seeks a commitment from Anthropic to use the technology "for all lawful purposes."

"They have until 5:01 PM ET on Friday to decide," he wrote on X. "Otherwise, we will terminate our partnership with Anthropic."