Scoop: Bessent and Wiles met Anthropic's Amodei in sign of thaw
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Bessent and Wiles at the State of the Union. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Image
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joined a meeting on Friday between White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, sources briefed on the meeting told Axios.
Why it matters: Anthropic is building tools that could have enormous implications for the federal government. But that same government is currently fighting Anthropic in court after the Pentagon declared it a "supply chain risk." The meeting points to a potential thaw.
"This is a big problem. Everyone's complaining. There's all this drama. So this got elevated to Susie to hear Dario out, determine what is bullsh-t and start to plot a way forward," a Trump adviser told Axios.
- Going into the meeting, both sides sought to wall off the Pentagon fight from the way the rest of the government engaged with Anthropic, and next steps are expected to be about how other departments engage with Anthropic's new Mythos Preview model, according to another source familiar with the negotiations.
Driving the news: Due to its frightening cyber capabilities, Anthropic released Mythos only to a select group of companies and organizations.
- Treasury and other government agencies have expressed interest in joining that list. Two sources told Axios prior to the White House meeting that a deal along those lines could be struck soon.
- One concern is that Mythos and other cutting-edge AI tools could allow nefarious hackers to breach the U.S. financial system. Alternatively, companies and government agencies could utilize Mythos to harden their cyber defenses before bad actors get access.
- Bessent joined the meeting because "he wants to make sure everyone is on the same page," a source familiar with his thinking said. "He understands this is a private company, but there is a role for government to play here."
What they're saying: An Anthropic spokesperson described the meeting afterwards as "a productive discussion on how Anthropic and the U.S. government can work together on key shared priorities such as cybersecurity, America's lead in the AI race, and AI safety."
- The White House said afterward that the "introductory meeting" had been "productive and constructive," adding: "We discussed opportunities for collaboration, as well as shared approaches and protocols to address the challenges associated with scaling this technology. The conversation also explored the balance between advancing innovation and ensuring safety."
Split screen: Anthropic is still fighting the "supply chain risk" designation, which the Pentagon applied after the company refused to make its software available to the military for "all lawful uses."
- Amodei insisted on restricting its use for mass surveillance or to develop autonomous weapons. During weeks of bitter and ultimately failed negotiations, some in the Pentagon grew to loathe Anthropic and Amodei.
- President Trump declared at the time of the Pentagon designation that all government agencies must cease their use of Anthropic, but that pronouncement is on hold as the court battle continues.
- The company still has plenty of detractors inside the administration. "They're using this Mythos cyber weapon to find friendly ears in the government," one U.S. official said. "They're succeeding."
The bottom line: Another U.S. official said that "every agency except [the Department of] War wants to" use Anthropic.
