Musk accuses Anthropic CEO of ‘projecting’ over AI concerns

The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Elon Musk responded with two words after the leader of Anthropic Dario Amodei in an interview said that he is not sure that his company’s AI models have acquired consciousness.

“The CEO of Anthropic says that Claude may or may not have received consciousness, as the model has begun to show signs of concern,” read a post on X about the cryptocurrency-based prediction market Polymarket, to which Musk replied, “He’s advertising.”

The comments from Musk, who is also the co-founder of xAI, come as Anthropic is arguing with the Pentagon about its use in a separate issue.

In an interview with The New York Times, Amodei, when asked about AI and consciousness, said, “We took a conservative approach here,” and, “We don’t know if the models are conscious.”

“We’re not sure we know what it would mean for the model to notice or if the model is able to notice. But we’re open to the possibility,” he continued.

“We put a lot of work in this field called interpretation, which looks inside the brains of the models to try to understand what they are thinking. And you find things that are exciting, where there are activations that light up the models that we see are associated with the concept of anxiety or something like that. When the characters experience anxiety in the text, then when the model itself is in the same situation we may be associated with a neuromoid, a neuromone shows that,” Times.

The discussion comes as the Trump administration moves federal agencies away from Anthropic after the tech company disputed the Department of Defense’s use of its tools.

The Pentagon asked Anthropic to allow the Department of Defense to use the company’s artificial intelligence product for “all legitimate purposes,” but Amodei suggested that the government might use their product for “mass surveillance” or “independent weapons,” and that the company would not be willing to allow such use cases.

PENTAGON’S AI WARFARE WILL HELP DECIDE WHO CONTROLS OUR MOST POWERFUL MILITARY TECHNOLOGY

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stands outside the Pentagon during a reception for Japan’s defense minister in Washington, Jan. 15, 2026. (Kevin Wolf/AP)

President Donald Trump said last Friday, “Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a HUGE MISTAKE trying to STRENGTH-ARM the Department of the Army, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution. Their selfishness is putting AMERICAN LIVES at risk, our Soldiers at risk, and our National Security at risk.”

“Therefore, I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY TERMINATE all use of Anthropic technology. We do not need it, we do not want it, and we will never do business with them again! There will be a six-month exit period for Agencies such as the Department of War that use Anthropic products, at various levels of Social Truth,” added Trump.

President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One before taking off from Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 1, 2026. Trump said last week he is “directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to AVOID all uses of Anthropic technology.” (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM

Secretary of the Army Pete Hegseth later wrote of X, “In conjunction with the President’s order that the Federal Government cease all use of Anthropic technology, I am directing the Department of the Army to designate Anthropic A Supply-Chain Risk to National Security. Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner doing business with any Anthropic activity of the United States military may continue to supply Anthropic’s business to the United States.” Fight its services for a period not exceeding six months to allow a seamless transition for a better and more patriotic service.”

Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.

Related Article