Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 13 hours ago
Michael Horowitz is the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for force development and emerging capabilities at the Department of Defense, and currently a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Horowitz joins Big Technology to discuss the Anthropic–Pentagon rupture and what it signals about how the U.S. government wants to use frontier AI. Tune in to hear his inside view on how models like Claude actually get deployed in defense workflows, why a contract fight over “mass surveillance” language escalated, and what the trust breakdown says about the future of AI partnerships with the state. We also cover autonomous weapon systems vs. “fully autonomous weapons,” what today’s AI can and can’t do on the battlefield, and how AI is likely to reshape warfare over time.
Chapters:
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:00:14 - Podcast Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:02:48 - Understanding the Conflict
00:12:41 - The Role of AI in the Pentagon
00:16:03 - AI Tools and Military Strategy
00:18:29 - AI and Autonomous Weapon Systems
00:25:47 - Government Perspective on AI Usage
00:28:15 - Government Reaction and Impact on AI Innovation
00:30:26 - Supply Chain Risk and Anthropic
00:33:27 - Potential Impact on Anthropic's Future
00:41:01 - AI's Role in Changing Warfare
Michael Horowitz is the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for force development and emerging capabilities at the Department of Defense, and currently a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Horowitz joins Big Technology to discuss the Anthropic–Pentagon rupture and what it signals about how the U.S. government wants to use frontier AI. Tune in to hear his inside view on how models like Claude actually get deployed in defense workflows, why a contract fight over “mass surveillance” language escalated, and what the trust breakdown says about the future of AI partnerships with the state. We also cover autonomous weapon systems vs. “fully autonomous weapons,” what today’s AI can and can’t do on the battlefield, and how AI is likely to reshape warfare over time.
Chapters:
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:00:14 - Podcast Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:02:48 - Understanding the Conflict
00:12:41 - The Role of AI in the Pentagon
00:16:03 - AI Tools and Military Strategy
00:18:29 - AI and Autonomous Weapon Systems
00:25:47 - Government Perspective on AI Usage
00:28:15 - Government Reaction and Impact on AI Innovation
00:30:26 - Supply Chain Risk and Anthropic
00:33:27 - Potential Impact on Anthropic's Future
00:41:01 - AI's Role in Changing Warfare
