Anthropic has hit an impasse with the United States Department of War regarding the military’s demand for unrestricted access to the AI firm’s technology. As the Pentagon’s deadline for Anthropic to comply looms closer on Friday afternoon, over 300 employees from Google and more than 60 from OpenAI have endorsed an open letter urging their company leaders to back Anthropic and reject this one-sided usage.

In particular, Anthropic has opposed the deployment of AI for domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weapon systems. The signers of the open letter encourage their employers to “set aside their disagreements and unite” to maintain the limits that Anthropic has put forth.

“They’re attempting to divide each company through fear that the other will yield,” the letter states. “That strategy works only if none of us know the positions of the others.”

The letter explicitly urges leaders at Google and OpenAI to uphold Anthropic’s boundaries against mass surveillance and completely automated weaponry. “We hope our leaders will set aside their differences and join forces to continue to reject the Department of War’s present demands.”

Company leaders have yet to respond formally to the letter. TechCrunch has reached out to Google and OpenAI for their comments.

Nevertheless, unofficial remarks suggest that both firms are sympathetic to Anthropic’s stance. In a Friday morning interview with CNBC, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated he doesn’t “personally believe the Pentagon should be threatening DPA against these companies.” A CNN reporter noted that an OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the company agrees with Anthropic’s boundaries against autonomous weapons and mass surveillance.

Google DeepMind has not officially addressed the issue, but Chief Scientist Jeff Dean, seemingly speaking as an individual, did voice his opposition to governmental mass surveillance.

“Mass surveillance undermines the Fourth Amendment and has a chilling effect on freedom of expression,” Dean posted on X. “Surveillance systems can be misused for political or discriminatory purposes.”

An Axios report indicates that the military is currently allowed to use X’s Grok, Google’s Gemini, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT for unclassified purposes, and has been in discussions with Google and OpenAI to use their technology for classified operations.

While Anthropic maintains an existing partnership with the Pentagon, the AI firm has steadfastly adhered to its stance that its AI should not be employed for either mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weaponry.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth informed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei that if his firm does not concede, the Pentagon will either classify Anthropic as a “supply chain risk” or invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) to compel compliance with military requirements.

In a statement released on Thursday, Amodei reiterated his company’s position. “These latter two threats are fundamentally contradictory: one brands us a security risk; the other brands Claude as vital to national security,” the statement notes. “Regardless, these threats do not alter our stance: we cannot, in good conscience, comply with their request.”