The US Defense Department used AI company Anthropic's Claude model during the operation to capture former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife in Caracas last month, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
This led to disagreements between the Pentagon and Anthropic, as Claude is not meant to be used for offensive measures, per Anthropic's public usage policies.
These policies include prohibiting the model from facilitating violence, developing weapons, or conducting surveillance, per WSJ's report.
An Anthropic spokesperson said the company could not comment on whether Claude or any other model was used in any specific operation and that any development must comply with its usage policies.
Deployment of Claude occurred through Anthropic's partnership with data company Palantir Technologies, whose tools and models are used by the Pentagon.
The Pentagon then questioned its future relationship with Anthropic, with chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell saying that the Defense Department requires "our partners to be willing to help our warfighters win in any fight."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at an event in January announcing that the Pentagon would work with xAI that the department would not "employ AI models that won't allow you to fight wars."
WSJ also reported that tensions over Anthropic’s constraints on military use have prompted officials to consider canceling a contract worth up to $200 million. The contract was awarded last summer, the report said.
WSJ added that Anthropic was the first AI model developer to be used in classified Defense Department operations, and that other tools could have been used for unclassified tasks. AI models can support activities such as summarizing documents, generating reports, and assisting with research, while the most contentious debates center on autonomous lethal uses and surveillance.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has publicly called for stronger regulation and guardrails around advanced AI, the report said, putting the company at odds with officials who want fewer restrictions on wartime applications.
The Journal reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously said the Pentagon would not employ AI models that “won’t allow you to fight wars,” referencing discussions involving Anthropic.
How the US captured Nicolas Maduro
The operation to capture Maduro began with overnight US strikes across Venezuela, with multiple explosions reported in Caracas and a loss of power in parts of the capital’s southern districts, followed by a rapid assault that ended with Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, being taken into custody and flown out of the country.
Venezuelan authorities declared a national emergency and, in the immediate aftermath, senior officials said they did not know the couple’s whereabouts, while Washington said Maduro would be brought to the United States to face prosecution.
In the days that followed, the humanitarian and political fallout widened: Cuba announced that 32 of its citizens, described as members of its armed forces and intelligence services assigned to security duties, were killed during the raid and declared two days of national mourning, while Venezuelan officials later cited a death toll of roughly 100 and said both Maduro and Flores were injured during the operation, as competing accounts continued to emerge over casualties, damage, and the scope of the strikes.