Silicon Valley Circling The Wagons Around Anthropic?

On December 12, Disney plus invites you to go behind the scenes with Taylor Swift in an exclusive six episode docuseries. I wanted to give something to the fans that they didn't expect. The only thing left is to close the book. The end of an era. And don't miss Taylor Swift, the era's tour, the final show featuring for the first time the tortured poets department. Soon December 12, only on Disney plus. Welcome to the TechRoo ride home for Friday, 03/06/2026. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, Dario might need some message discipline as Anthropic is officially designated a risk by the US government. GPT 5.4 is here. Oracle is considering laying off a ton of people and SoftBank is considering taking on a ton of debt both for the same reason. An early warning system for AI job destruction and of course the weekend long read suggestions. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. The US DOD says it has officially informed Anthropic leadership the company and its products are deemed a supply chain risk effective immediately. Dario Amodai says Anthropic plans to fight the DOD's risk designation in court, claiming the DOD's letter to it has a, quote, narrow scope and apologizes for a recent leaked memo quoting Engadget. Amodai explained that the designation has a narrow scope because it only exists to protect the government. That is why the general public and even defense department contractors can still use Anthropic's Claude chatbot and its AI technologies. Microsoft told CNBC that it will continue using Claude after its lawyers had concluded that it can keep on working with Anthropic on non defense related projects. More on that in a second. The CEO has also admitted that his company had productive conversations with the department over the past few days. He said that they were looking at ways to serve the Pentagon that adheres to its two exceptions, namely that its technology not be used for mass surveillance and the development of fully autonomous weapons, and looking at ways to, quote, ensure a smooth transition if that's not possible. That confirms reports that Anthropic is back in talks with the agency in an effort to reach a new deal. In addition, Amodai apologized for a leaked internal memo wherein he reportedly said that OpenAI's messaging about its own deal with the department is just straight up lies, end quote. Actually, he said more than that, quoting the New York Post. Antropic CEO, Dario Amadai, has apologized for bashing the Trump administration in an explosive letter to staffers as he gears up for a court battle over the Pentagon's blacklisting of his AI firm. The exec said he's sorry for the, quote, tone of a 1,600 word internal missive that accused the Department of War of targeting Anthropic for not giving dictator style praise to Trump. I also want to apologize directly for a post internal to the company that was leaked to the press yesterday. Amadai …