{"id":1822464,"date":"2026-03-12T13:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T10:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1822464"},"modified":"2026-03-12T13:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T10:41:13","slug":"can-ai-blackmail-us-facts-vs-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1822464","title":{"rendered":"Can AI blackmail us? Facts vs. fear"},"content":{"rendered":"

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https:\/\/p.dw.com\/p\/5AHFB<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n
Anthropic refused to accede to the US government’s conditions on mass surveillance and autonomous weaponsImage: Jonathan Raa\/NurPhoto\/picture alliance<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The US government’s decision to banish AI<\/a> giant Anthropic from its entire supply chain has handed Germany and Europe a “once-in-a-lifetime chance,” according to a politician from the center-left Social Democratic Party<\/a> (SPD), junior partner in Chancellor Friedrich Merz<\/a>‘s government coalition.<\/p>\n

Anthropic, valued at $380 billion (\u20ac327 billion), has developed a series of large language models named Claude with a huge variety of applications, including piloting drones. The company has partnered with the US military and government since late 2024, and US media reports claim that Claude was used both in the raid on Venezuela<\/a> and the bombing of Iran<\/a> \u2014 though it was not clear exactly how.<\/p>\n

In late February, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demanded that Anthropic remove the clauses in its contracts that prohibit the use of Claude for mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons.<\/p>\n

When Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei refused to comply, Hegseth declared the company a “supply chain risk”<\/a> \u2014 a designation that had never before been applied to a US firm \u2014 and President Donald Trump ordered all government agencies to stop using Anthropic’s services. The company has now filed a\u00a0challenge against the designation in court<\/a>, saying that the blacklisting by the US government could cost it multiple billions of dollars as well as reputational harm.<\/p>\n

There were two reasons why Anthropic would not accede to the Trump administration’s demands<\/a>, the company said in a statement posted on its website in late February: “First, we do not believe that today’s frontier AI models are reliable enough to be used in fully autonomous weapons. \u2026 Second, we believe that mass domestic surveillance of Americans constitutes a violation of fundamental rights.”<\/p>\n

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Can AI blackmail us? Facts vs. fear <\/h2>\n

A radical plan<\/h2>\n

Now Matthias Mieves, the SPD’s digital policy spokesperson, has written a letter to Chancellor Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen<\/a> arguing that they should offer to bring Anthropic to Europe to develop its “human-centered, trustworthy AI” models. Anthropic’s refusal to comply with the US government’s demands showed that “the protection of the individual plays a role for Anthropic, and that fits the legal situation in Europe,” Mieves told DW.<\/p>\n

Mieves’ letter, which he also posted on his social media profiles, went on to make three proposals for the German and European governments:<\/p>\n