The Trump administration has introduced fresh guidelines for AI contracts in the civilian sector, stipulating that companies must allow for “any lawful” utilization of their models. This development follows a recent conflict between the Pentagon and AI company Anthropic, as per a report by the Financial Times.
On Thursday, the Pentagon categorized Anthropic as a “supply-chain risk,” prohibiting government contractors from utilizing the AI firm’s technology in projects for the US military. This decision came after a prolonged disagreement regarding the company’s demands for safeguards deemed excessive by the Defense Department.
A preliminary version of the guidelines, as per the FT, states that AI organizations looking to engage in business with the government must provide the US with an irrevocable license to leverage their systems for all legitimate purposes.
Reportedly, the General Services Administration has issued this directive for civilian contracts as part of a broader initiative across the government to enhance the procurement of AI services, with similar measures being contemplated by the Pentagon for military contracts.
Josh Gruenbaum, commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service, a GSA subsidiary facilitating software procurement for the federal government, expressed via email to Reuters that maintaining a business association with Anthropic would be irresponsible and perilous for the nation. Gruenbaum mentioned that in compliance with the President’s directive, GSA has terminated Anthropic’s OneGov agreement, thereby discontinuing their accessibility to the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches through GSA’s pre-negotiated contracts.
Requests for comments from Reuters to the White House went unanswered at the time of reporting.
The GSA draft dictates that contractors must refrain from deliberately embedding partisan or ideological judgments into the data outputs of AI systems, as per the FT. Additionally, companies are mandated to disclose whether their models have been altered or configured to adhere to any non-US federal government or commercial compliance or regulatory standards, as reported by FT.
