https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh7hO-q_gb4




Podcast audio:







In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Mike Mazza discuss the recent standoff between Anthropic and the Defense Department over military use of AI technology, and the moral questions faced by those creating weapons of war.  




Anthropic’s reasoning



Authoritarian threats



Ayn Rand’s “To Young Scientists”



Moral sanction




Resources: 




Ayn Rand, “To Young Scientists”



Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on the sanction of the Victim



Ben Bayer, “Effective Altruism’s Faith-Based Sacrifice for the Future”




This episode was recorded on March 6, 2026.



Image credit: Pavlo Gonchar / SOPA Images / LightRocket / via Getty Images