The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that the US military used the artificial intelligence model Claude, developed by Anthropic, during an operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. According to unnamed sources cited in the report, the AI system was integrated into the mission through a partnership between Anthropic and Palantir Technologies, a contractor for the US Department of Defense and federal law enforcement agencies.

Following the operation, an Anthropic employee reportedly asked a Palantir official how Claude had been used in the mission. This marks the first known instance of Anthropic’s technology being deployed in a classified US defense operation. However, the exact role of Claude—capable of tasks ranging from PDF analysis to autonomous drone control—remains unclear.

An Anthropic spokesperson neither confirmed nor denied Claude’s involvement but stated that all uses of the model, whether in private or government sectors, must comply with the company’s usage policies. The report has sparked renewed debate over the ethics of using AI technologies in military operations.