donald us president President Trump announced Friday that he is directing all federal agencies to “immediately cease” the use of Anthropic’s AI tools. The move comes after weeks of conflict between Antropic and government officials over the military use of artificial intelligence.
“The left-wing lunatics at Anthropic made a disastrous mistake trying to strengthen the Department of the Army,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
President Trump said there will be a “six-month phase-out period” for government agencies using Anthropic, allowing time for further negotiations between the government and AI startups.
The Department of Defense and Antropic did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Shortly after the president’s announcement, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Anthropic would also be designated as a “supply chain risk.” The move is typically limited to foreign companies considered a risk to U.S. national security. The designation would prohibit the U.S. military and its contractors and suppliers from working with the AI company.
Hegseth also slammed Anthropic and its CEO Dario Amodei for refusing to accede to its demands. “Under the sacred rhetoric of ‘effective altruism,’ they are trying to forcefully bring the U.S. military into submission. This is a despicable act of corporate virtue that puts Silicon Valley ideology above American lives,” Hegseth wrote in X.
The Pentagon is seeking changes to a contract it signed with Anthropic and others last July to remove restrictions on how AI can be deployed and instead allow “all lawful uses” of the technology. Antropic opposed the changes, arguing that AI could be used for full control of lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance of American citizens.
The Department of Defense says it is not currently using AI in this way and has no plans to do so. But Trump administration officials have expressed opposition to the idea of private tech companies directing military use of such critical technology.
Anthropic was the first major AI lab to work with the U.S. military through a $200 million contract signed with the Department of Defense last year. We have created some custom models known as Claude Govs that are less restrictive than the regular ones. Google, OpenAI, and xAI also signed similar deals around the same time, but Anthropic is currently the only AI company working on sensitive systems.
Anthropic’s models are available through platforms provided by Palantir and Amazon’s classified military cloud platform. Governor Claude is currently used primarily for mundane tasks such as writing reports and summarizing documents, but it is also used for intelligence analysis and military planning, according to a source familiar with the situation who spoke to WIRED on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
In recent years, Silicon Valley has largely avoided defense projects, but has increasingly embraced them, eventually becoming a full-fledged military contractor. The battle between the Antropics and the Pentagon is currently testing the limits of that change. This week, hundreds of employees from OpenAI and Google signed an open letter supporting Anthropic and criticizing their companies’ decision to remove restrictions on military use of AI.
In a memo to OpenAI staff today, CEO Sam Altman said the company agrees with Anthropic and views mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons as “red lines that should not be crossed.” Altman added that the company will work to reach an agreement with the Pentagon that would allow it to continue working with the military, The Wall Street Journal reported.
