As well as designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk, the government could also cancel its contract or invoke a Cold War-era law called the Defense Production Act to give the military more sweeping authority to use its products, even if the company doesn’t approve.

Washington had given the artificial intelligence startup until Friday 5.01 pm to agree to unconditional military use of its technology.

Debates have long swirled around AI and its use in weapons targeting, the idea of no human involvement still an uncomfortable one.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has set a Friday deadline for the company to grant full lawful AI to military access or risk losing its $200 million contract and being labeled a supply chain risk.

The company's Claude chatbot is one of the few AI systems cleared for use in classified settings. But a standoff between Anthropic and the Trump administration is putting its government work at risk.

Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei said the company could not permit its technology to be applied to domestic mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence lab Anthropic on Tuesday unveiled 10 new ways for business customers to plug in its technology to key areas of their work, weeks after other releases sparked an aggressive selloff in traditional software company shares.