Pentagon Turns to Ex-Uber Executive in Anthropic Feud Over AI

Emil Michael, under secretary of defense for research and engineering.

Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Emil Michael made his name in Silicon Valley a decade ago as an aggressive dealmaker for a startup — Uber Technologies Inc. — as it wrangled with governments in pursuit of market domination. Now, Michael has switched sides in a battle involving a different startup — this time taking a leading role in the Pentagon’s dispute with artificial intelligence pioneer Anthropic PBC.