1. United States
2. Wisc.
3. Letter

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth should not be allowed to force Anthropic to discard Anthropic's restrictions on ethical usage of AI. Hegseth is threatening to blackmail Anthropic by attempting to force it to drop restrictions on its use, or he will have the Pentagon invoke the Defense Production Act. This is, plain and simple, an attempt to confiscate the property and rights owned by a US corporation to put them under government control. This is wild government overreach. This nation is not at war. This nation is not facing an imminent existential threat from an external enemy. There is no justification for the Pentagon to steal private property. Corporations have the right to make products which incorporate limitations. If the Pentagon is dissatisfied with Anthropic's product, it can seek a similar product elsewhere. Punishing Anthropic for not giving away its product without restrictions, and thereby harming the corporation's goodwill, and thereby reducing its market value, is not a proper government function. Thank you for doing what you can to prevent this grotesque incursion of government into private industry.