Despite recently being designated a supply-chain risk by the Pentagon, Anthropic is still talking to high-level members of the Trump administration.
There were earlier signs of a thawing relationship — or a sense that not every part of the administration wanted to cut off Anthropic — with reports saying that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell were encouraging the heads of major banks to test out Anthropic’s new Mythos model.
Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark seemed to confirm this, claiming that the ongoing fight over the supply-chain risk designation is a “narrow contracting dispute” that would not interfere with the company’s willingness to brief the government about its latest models.
Then on Friday, Axios reported that Bessent and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles had met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. In a statement, the White House described this as an “introductory meeting” that was “productive and constructive.”
“We discussed opportunities for collaboration, as well as shared approaches and protocols to address the challenges associated with scaling this technology,” the White House said.
Similarly, Anthropic issued a statement confirming that Amodei had met with “senior administration officials for 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 company added that it’s “looking forward to continuing these discussions.”
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The dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon seemingly began after failed negotiations over the military’s use of Anthropic’s models; the AI company sought to maintain safeguards around the use of its technology for fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance. (OpenAI quickly announced a military deal of its own, leading to some consumer backlash.)
But it sounds like the rest of the Trump administration doesn’t share the Pentagon’s hostility, with an administration source telling Axios that “every agency” except the Department of Defense wants to use the company’s technology.
BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR —-The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has called for stronger collaboration with the nation’s security institutions to combat criminal activities threatening the telecommunications sector.
The appeal was made by the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, as part of efforts to safeguard critical telecom infrastructure and sustain industry growth.
He disclosed this at the North Central Zonal Sensitization Workshop for security agencies held in Keffi, Nasarawa State.
He said the collaboration and partnership is important to enable the Commission to “move steadily in harnessing fully, the potential of telecommunications and to sustain the exponential growth in the sector in view of the central role telecommunication plays in the social and economic development of the nation”
The EVC seized the opportunity of the forum to thank the Office of the National Security Adviser; the Nigeria Police Force; the Department of State Services; the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps; the Nigeria Customs Service; the Federal Road Safety Commission and other agencies involved in security governance for the support they have offered the NCC in its effort to contain telecom crimes.
The Workshop, which was attended by personnel from all these agencies, featured paper presentations covering the gamut of challenges of enforcement processes including the role of ICT in Effective Policing; Challenges of Prosecuting Telecom Offences; Overview of NCC Enforcement Regulations; and Overview of NCC Enforcement Powers under the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003.
Resource persons at the Workshop include Dr. Solomon Arase, former Inspector General of Police; and Paul Usoro, SAN; as well as the representation from the Commission which includes Efosa Idehen, Head Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement who represented the EVC; Dr. Henry Nkemadu, Deputy Director Research & Development; Helen Obi, Head Zonal Operations; Salisu Abdu, Head Enforcement; GT Mohammed, Assistant Director Legal and Regulatory Services; and Al-Kassim Umar, Head Compliance Monitoring.
It was a highly participatory workshop marked by lively, robust and seminal discussion the Commission will find quite useful in its strategic plan to re-engineer its operations for improved regulatory efficiency, robust stakeholder engagement and better quality of consumer experience.
Two persons have been confirmed dead, while three others sustained injuries following an explosion at a petrol station in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State on Saturday.
The Plateau State Police Command Public Relations Officer, SP Alfred Alabo, confirmed the incident in a statement, clarifying that it was an industrial accident and not a bomb blast as initially reported online.
Alabo said misleading reports suggesting a bomb explosion and outbreak of violence in the state were false and capable of causing panic.
“The Plateau State Police Command has been drawn to certain false, misleading and alarmist reports currently circulating, alleging that there was a bomb blast and outbreak of crisis in Plateau State,” the statement said.
According to the police, the explosion occurred at Natty Petroleum Investment Nigeria Ltd during repair work on an underground storage tank.
“The Plateau State Police Command received a report of an explosion which occurred at Natty Petroleum Investment Nigeria Ltd, a filling station located in Daffo District, while welding repair works were being carried out by artisans,” the statement added.
