Musk accuses Anthropic CEO of ‘projecting’ over AI consciousness concerns

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk gave a two-word retort after Anthropic leader Dario Amodei claimed in an interview that he isn’t sure if his company’s AI models have gained consciousness.

“Anthropic CEO says Claude may or may not have gained consciousness, as the model has begun showing symptoms of anxiety,” read a post on X by cryptocurrency-based prediction market Polymarket, to which Musk replied, “He’s projecting.” 

The comment from Musk, who is also the founder of xAI, comes as Anthropic is at odds with the Pentagon over its use in a separate matter.  

In an interview with The New York Times, Amodei, when asked about AI and consciousness, said, “We’ve taken a generally precautionary approach here,” and, “We don’t know if the models are conscious.”

“We are not even sure that we know what it would mean for a model to be conscious or whether a model can be conscious. But we’re open to the idea that it could be,” he continued. 

“We’re putting a lot of work into this field called interpretability, which is looking inside the brains of the models to try to understand what they’re thinking. And you find things that are evocative, where there are activations that light up in the models that we see as being associated with the concept of anxiety or something like that. When characters experience anxiety in the text, and then when the model itself is in a situation that a human might associate with anxiety, that same anxiety neuron shows up,” Amodei also told the Times. 

The interview comes as the Trump administration is moving federal agencies away from Anthropic after the tech company pushed back against the War Department’s usage of its tools.

The Pentagon has called for Anthropic to allow the Department of War to utilize the company’s artificial intelligence product for “all lawful purposes,” but Amodei has suggested the government could potentially use their product for “mass domestic surveillance” or “fully autonomous weapons,” and that the company would not be willing to allow such use cases.

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stands outside the Pentagon during a ceremony welcoming Japan’s defense minister in Washington, on Jan. 15, 2026. (Kevin Wolf/AP)

President Donald Trump said last Friday, “The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution. Their selfishness is putting AMERICAN LIVES at risk, our Troops in danger, and our National Security in JEOPARDY.” 

“Therefore, I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology. We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again! There will be a Six Month phase out period for Agencies like the Department of War who are using Anthropic’s products, at various levels,” Trump added on Truth Social.

President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One before departing Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 1, 2026. Trump said last week he is “directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology.” (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth later wrote on X, “In conjunction with the President’s directive for the Federal Government to cease all use of Anthropic’s technology, I am directing the Department of War to designate Anthropic a Supply-Chain Risk to National Security. Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic. Anthropic will continue to provide the Department of War its services for a period of no more than six months to allow for a seamless transition to a better and more patriotic service.” 

Digital’s Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report. 

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