Anthropic Refuses Military Contracts Over Ethical Controversies Surrounding AI. Anthropic has ended its cooperation with the Pentagon, refusing to deploy AI for military purposes. Company leadership involved religious thinkers in discussions on the ethics of Claude. Questions of morality and AI regulation remain unresolved.
The American company Anthropic, developer of the artificial intelligence Claude, has found itself at the center of an ethical conflict after refusing to provide its technologies for US military needs. In February, Anthropic halted its cooperation with the Pentagon, refusing to allow its models to be used for mass surveillance and the creation of fully autonomous weapons. Following this, the US Department of Defense declared the company a 'supply chain risk' and switched to OpenAI, developer of ChatGPT.
In March, Anthropic’s management invited 15 Christian thinkers to discuss a key question: how to ensure ethical behavior in artificial intelligence. The discussion focused on how to define morality for AI, sources of ethical standards, and the boundaries of acceptable conduct. Company representatives acknowledged that Claude’s capabilities go beyond standard business solutions, and that external expertise is needed for regulation.
However, the choice of religious experts sparked mixed reactions. The question of who should define AI morality, and on what grounds, remains controversial. There are concerns that religious views could influence decisions on technology use, for example in areas such as biomedicine or education. At the same time, representatives of religious circles emphasize that moral constraints should exceed technological capabilities.
At the same time, the Catholic Church joined the discussion: Pope Leon XIV dedicated his first encyclical to the issues of artificial intelligence. The document notes that AI is incapable of human feelings, does not possess a spiritual horizon, and cannot be a source of moral decisions. According to theologians, it is precisely human limitations that shape compassion and solidarity, and algorithms are incapable of making war morally acceptable.
The question of who should set the rules for AI—government, business, or religious institutions—remains open. According to russpain.com, in recent years, ethical standards for artificial intelligence have been discussed at the UN and EU levels, but no universal approach has yet been formulated. For Spain, the issue of AI regulation is especially significant amid the increasing adoption of digital technologies in the economy, education, and public administration.
