Employees at Google and OpenAI support Anthropic's Pentagon stand in open letter | TechCrunch

Anthropic has reached a stalemate with the United States Department of War over the military’s request for unrestricted access to the AI company’s technology. But as the Pentagon’s Friday afternoon deadline for Anthropic’s compliance approaches, over 300 Google employees and over 60 OpenAI employees have signed an open letter urging the leaders of their companies to support Anthropic and refuse this unilateral use. Specifically, Anthropic stood in opposition to the use of AI for domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weaponry. The open letter’s signatories seek to encourage their employers to “put aside their differences and stand together” to uphold the boundaries Anthropic has asserted. “They’re trying to divide each company with fear that the other will give in,” the letter says. “That strategy only works if none of us know where the others stand.” The letter specifically calls on executives at Google and OpenAI to maintain Anthropic’s red lines against mass surveillance and fully automated weaponry. “We hope our leaders will put aside their differences and stand together to continue to refuse the Department of War’s current demands.” Leaders at the companies have not yet formally reponded to the letter. TechCrunch has reached out to Google and OpenAI for comment. However, informal statements suggest both companies are sympathetic to Anthropic’s side of the case. In an interview with CNBC on Friday morning, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that he doesn’t “personally think...