Sheera Frenkel, Cade Metz and Julian E. Barnes
For weeks, Mr. Michael, a former top executive at Uber, had been negotiating a $200 million artificial intelligence contract with the A.I. company Anthropic for the Pentagon. The talks had hit obstacles as the agency demanded unfettered use of Anthropic’s A.I. systems, while the company countered that it would not allow its technology to be used for purposes such as the surveillance of Americans.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had set the Friday deadline for a deal, and the two sides were close. The only thing that remained was agreeing on a few words about the issue of lawful surveillance of Americans, multiple people with knowledge of the talks said. Mr. Michael, who was on a call with Anthropic executives, demanded that the company’s chief executive, Dario Amodei, get on the phone to hash out the language, the people said. But Mr. Michael was told that Dr. Amodei was in a meeting with his executive team and needed more time.
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