San Francisco awoke Saturday morning to a barrage of news from Washington, the Middle East, and Silicon Valley. Overnight, President Donald Trump announced (opens in new tab) that his administration had launched a war of choice on Iran, joining Israel in raining airstrikes down on at least nine cities.
The violence began just hours after the president declared on Truth Social that he was ending all government work with AI company Anthropic over its refusal to give the Department of War unfettered access to its technology. Anthropic CEO Dario Almodei told CBS News Friday that there were “red lines” that his company refused to cross, saying, “We wanted to stand up for American values.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took the opposite path, announcing late Friday night that his company would be acceding to the government’s demands, saying that the firm had “reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network. In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome.”
The divergent decisions by two of the world’s largest private AI companies, both headquartered in San Francisco, ignited a firestorm of debate and accusations on social media.
Eagle-eyed social media trackers quickly scrounged up previous tweets and posts from Trump allies, like venture capitalist David Sacks, who one year ago railed against earlier U.S. incursions into the Middle East.
San Francisco rallies in support of Anthropic, against war in Iran
Supporters of Anthropic left messages in chalk outside its offices in SoMA on Friday. The messages included exhortations to keep up the resistance against the Trump Administration: “Keep going.” “You give your courage.” “God loves Anthropic.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.