Employees at Google and OpenAI support Anthropic's Pentagon stand in open letter

More than 300 Google employees and over 60 OpenAI employees have signed an open letter urging leaders at their companies to support Anthropic and refuse the Pentagon's request for unrestricted access to the AI company's technology. The letter comes as the Pentagon's Friday afternoon deadline for compliance approaches. The signatories call on executives at Google and OpenAI to maintain Anthropic's red lines against the use of AI for domestic mass surveillance and fully automated weaponry. They ask the companies to put aside differences and stand together to uphold those boundaries. The letter states that efforts to divide the companies rely on fear that others will concede and that such a strategy works only if none know where the others stand. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a CNBC interview that he does not personally think the Pentagon should be threatening the companies with the Defense Production Act. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed to a CNN reporter that the company shares Anthropic's red lines. Google DeepMind Chief Scientist Jeff Dean wrote that mass surveillance violates the Fourth Amendment, has a chilling effect on freedom of expression, and that surveillance systems are prone to misuse for political or discriminatory purposes. Leaders at Google and OpenAI have not yet formally responded to the letter. TechCrunch has sought comment from both companies.