How a Contractor’s Claude Agent Got Into the Pentagon

LoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyThis week on Uncanny Valley, Brian Barrett, Leah Feiger, and Zoë Schiffer dive into our scoop on how a defense contractor connected Claude Code to a secure Department of Defense system. We also discuss the green, yellow, and red flags we see in Anthropic’s IPO filing—and why it’s a test not just for the AI industry but for the entire US economy—and how volunteers nationwide are preparing for ICE agents potentially showing up at polling sites in the midterms.

You can follow Brian Barrett on Bluesky at @brbarrett, Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky at @zoeschiffer, and Leah Feiger on Bluesky at @leahfeiger. Write to us at [email protected].

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Note: This is an automated transcript, which may contain errors.

Brian Barrett: Welcome to the WIRED’s Uncanny Valley. I’m Brian Barrett, executive editor.

Zoë Schiffer: I’m Zoë Schiffer, contributing editor.

Leah Feiger: And I’m Leah Feiger, director of politics and science.

Zoë Schiffer: This week, Anthropic has officially filed to go public. There is a lot going on in the hundreds of pages that the company submitted as part of its S-1 filing, from staggering earnings and losses, to warnings of AI’s existential threat. Obviously, we’re talking about Anthropic here. We’ll discuss our key takeaways and why this IPO is kind of high stakes, not just for the AI industry, but honestly the entire US economy.

Leah Feiger: We’re also bringing you a scoop about how a defense contractor plugged Anthropic’s Claude into a secure Department of Defense system, in what’s really one of the most outlandish uses of AI in the government we’ve seen so far.

Brian Barrett: And the midterms are right around the corner, just a few days away. Massive groups of volunteers all over the country are already getting ready to protect their communities from the potential that ICE officers show up at the polls. We’ll get into how grassroots efforts like these are a reflection of a deeply uncertain election cycle.

Zoë Schiffer: So on Monday, we learned that Anthropic finally pulled the trigger and publicly filed for its IPO. This has been highly anticipated for a bunch of reasons. Anthropic is expected to raise more money in its IPO than any company in history, and it would be the first major US company focused solely on building AI software to go public. To give you a sense of the scale that we’re talking about, the company’s valuation went from $183 billion a little over a year ago to $965 billion in its most recent round, and some expect that it could be worth close to $2 trillion once it starts trading. So the filing basically gives us the first real look inside Anthropic’s business because it’s a private company right now. It doesn’t have to report a bunch of stuff. And the numbers are pretty extreme in both directions, billions of dollars in revenue and even more billions in losses, and hundreds of billions that the company has already committed to compute. Because there’s a ton to unpack in this paperwork, I thought it would be fun to divide it into green flags, yellow flags, and red flags that we saw from the filing. What do you guys think?

Leah Feiger: I’m astounded by how much money is at play here. This is, yes.

Brian Barrett: What flag, Leah? What flag is that?

Zoë Schiffer: For the sake of the economy, it’s green.