The Impact World this Week: 6 March 2026

Global: AI ethics has been big news this week, after OpenAI undertook a contract with the US Department of Defense (DoD) which rival firm Anthropic had walked away from. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei (pictured) refused to let its generative AI system Claude be potentially used for mass surveillance of the US public or in fully autonomous weapons. This led to Anthropic losing its multimillion dollar DoD contract, and the US government designating it a “supply chain risk”, while creating an opening for OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to step into, offering up his firm’s alternative ChatGPT system in Claude’s place. Altman said the language in the deal has since been changed to prevent ChatGPT being used for mass surveillance of the American public. While Altman might have bagged the lucrative DoD contract, it appears to have been a reputational misstep, with the news leading to a mass migration by businesses and members of the public from ChatGPT to Claude. 

However, it might be worth noting that in February Anthropic downgraded its safety framework, so that it will no longer automatically pause the development of potentially dangerous AI models if competitors have already released similar, less-regulated systems. Anthropic had previously said its old framework was designed to encourage other AI firms into a ‘race to the top’, with regards to AI safety and ethics. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that the day after President Trump threatened to blacklist Anthropic, the company’s tech was used in the US attacks on Iran. To further complicate the picture, the Financial Times reported yesterday that Anthropic is, at time of publication, back in negotiations with the DoD, in a last-ditch effort to reach an agreement on the terms governing the Pentagon’s access to its Claude models. 

• Watch The AI dilemma: Can social enterprises innovate without compromising their values?

UK: Fashion icons Alexa Chung and Lila Moss are teaming up with Vogue and eBay to support clothing poverty social enterprise Give Your Best through a vintage clothing sale, taking place on 21 March. Tickets for the live event, called the London Vogue Vintage Sale, announced on Monday, have already sold out. Select items will be available via an eBay auction on the same day. Shoppers will have their pick of hundreds of vintage pieces and curated rails of rare archive finds, hand-selected by British Vogue editors. All net proceeds will be donated to Give Your Best. Last year’s event raised over £65,000 for charity Smart Works. 

• Read more: Give Your Best - a ‘Vinted for good’ which gives choice to people in need

UK: ‘What if all our capital worked in service of our mission, not just the parts we give away in grants or in programme delivery?’ This is the question that Tudor Trust CEO Raji Hunjan asks as she introduces a ‘provocation piece’ which the foundation commissioned from consultant Amir Rizwan. The aim, Rizwan explains, was to “surface tensions, test assumptions, and ask what becomes possible if Tudor applies the same courage in its investments as it has begun to show in its grant-making”. The foundation has not yet changed its investment strategy for its £220m endowment, Hunjan explains, but the paper enables it to “begin to confront the difficult choices we must make”.

UK: Lenny Henry, Paloma Faith, James Acaster and more celebrities will be joined by Social Enterprise UK to protest against the rise of the far right in the UK. The Together Alliance, a UK-wide coalition of over 50 civil society organisations, trade unions, and campaign groups, including Social Enterprise UK, is holding a march in London on 28 March to protest against the rise of the far right in the UK. In a LinkedIn post on Thursday, Social Enterprise UK said: “We’re marching because we believe that social enterprises bring people together. Across the country, they are bringing hope – creating jobs and opportunities, working at the heart of communities, and trading to protect people and the planet. As the voices of division grow, it’s vital that we have a vision of how we can make the economy work better for everyone. That is what social enterprises are already doing and why we will keep on fighting to make sure their voices are heard.”

Movers and Shakers

• Julian Hartley will be the new group chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation-Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust Group. Hartley was most recently CEO of CQC, the independent regulator of health and social care in England, and before that worked at NHS Providers, the membership organisation for NHS hospital, mental health, community and ambulance services. Interim group chief executive Shān Nicholas will continue to lead the organisations until Hartley begins work on 5 May. 
• Bridges Fund Management has expanded its private equity platform by bringing in a specialist climate technology investment team from HSBC Asset Management. The team, led by Christophe Defert and Mike D’Aurizio, have been investing together for over ten years. It will now be known as Bridges Climate Transition Partners, and will continue to manage the existing Climate Growth Partners fund, which has already made 11 investments. HSBC Asset Management will remain a limited partner and maintain its existing capital commitment in the fund, and also intends to be an anchor investor in a successor fund, to be established and managed by Bridges in due course.

Dario Amodei image credit: World Economic Forum (Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)