Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Thursday said the company “cannot in good conscience” agree to allow the Department of Defense to use its models in all lawful use cases without limitation, adding that the agency’s threats do not change its position.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is pressuring Anthropic to give the military broader access to its artificial intelligence technology or lose its Pentagon contract.

The meeting between Hegseth and Amodei was confirmed by a defense official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.