Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei arrived in Canberra to sign a memorandum of understanding in a meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday, as part of a government bid to foster the responsible development of AI.
Under the agreement, the company will share findings on the risks and capabilities of AI, collaborate with research institutions, and take part in safety and security evaluations as part of a commitment to work with Australia's AI Safety Institute.
Media were permitted to observe the fireside chat, but news photographers were stopped at the door in a rare throttling of visual coverage. Anthropic declined to comment on the news photography ban.
Anthropic is the maker of cutting-edge chatbot Claude.Â
The company agreed to support the local AI ecosystem, collaborate on the development of the technology, and ensure its future Australian operations align with the government's expectations regarding data centres and AI infrastructure developers.
Compared to Google or Chat GPT parent Open AI, Anthropic has been more outspoken on the need for guardrails around the technology.
At Parliament House, Mr Amodei warned of the consequences should AI fall into the hands of countries with sophisticated surveillance systems.
"They can really go in the direction of a panopticon here," he said, referring to a philosophical concept often applied to surveillance states.
"On the international stage, I see it as a military competition.
"AI is a powerful technology and I don't want autocracies to be militarily more powerful than democracies."
Though the chief executive referred to China in his comments, the company's agreement with Australia comes after Anthropic filed lawsuits against the US Department of Defense.
That was triggered by the company's insistence on implementing safeguards to prevent the military's potential use of its technology for mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons.
The Pentagon has since designated Anthropic a supply-chain risk, barring US government contractors from using the company's technology in work for the military.
"I'm the last person to deny that there are all these risks," Mr Amodei said.
"But the benefits are real and if we can mitigate the risk, you can have a much better world."
The Australian government has heralded its arrangement with Anthropic as a way to capture the opportunities of AI while ensuring its citizens stay safe.
But Australia would need to bring other companies into the fold if it wanted its plans to work, University of NSW computer science professor Toby Walsh said.
"It won't be good enough just to ensure that the Anthropic models are safe," he told AAP.
"You want to make sure that Google, OpenAI and everybody else's models are safe too."
He urged Australia to bolster its AI investment with real funding, rather than rely on a memorandum of understanding that isn't legally binding.
The digital industry peak body welcomed the Anthropic agreement as an important step in advancing Australia's artificial intelligence capability under the national AI plan.
"Global partnerships are critical, but they must be anchored in national priorities, ensuring that the benefits of AI are realised across the Australian economy and community," Australian Information Industry Association chief executive Elizabeth Whitelock said.
The federal government in June 2025 unveiled a $20 billion deal with Amazon Web Services to fund data centre infrastructure, while its NSW counterpart on Friday backed a plan for 15 data centre projects worth $51 billion.
Questions have been raised over the viability of the data centre industry due to concerns over the vast amount of resources it uses.
Some large data centres use up to 40 million litres of water per day, enough for up to 80,000 Australian homes, according to the Water Services Association of Australia.
They also require significant amounts of land, generate a lot of heat, and can create noise pollution which affects nearby communities and animals, the Climate Council says.
"We want to make sure that this massive interest in data centre investment in our country comes with obligations, including natural resource management, water obviously, energy and a whole range of relevant factors," Treasurer Jim Chalmers told reporters.
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