Ex-Googler Reveals Pentagon Pressured Anthropic for Unrestricted AI

Turn_Trout · x · 2026-07-16

AI safety researcher TurnTrout detailed in a lengthy post that the Pentagon threatened economic devastation to force Anthropic into surrendering an unrestricted AI model. He also expressed concern at the time that Google would succumb to similar government pressure.

In context, this is part of a series of in-depth exposé tweets regarding Google's military collaborations and AI ethics controversies. The author recounts his experience pushing for ethical reviews internally at Google, even submitting an oversight proposal directly to DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, only to see it shelved. He also criticized AI ethics leaders for their inaction in the face of military pressure.

Related event: Turn_Trout quits over DeepMind military AI claims(11 posts)→

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