Trump Moves to Ban Anthropic From the US Government

US President Donald Trump announced Friday that he was ordering every federal agency to “immediately cease” using Anthropic’s AI tools. The move comes after Anthropic and top officials clashed for weeks over military applications of artificial intelligence.

“The left-wing crackpots at Anthropic made a DISASTURABLE MISTAKE in trying to beef up the War Department,” Trump said in an article on Truth Social.

Trump said there would be a “six-month phase-out period” for agencies using Anthropic, which could allow time for further negotiations between the government and the AI ​​startup.

The Pentagon and Anthropic did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Shortly after the president’s announcement, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Anthropic would also be designated a “supply chain risk,” a move normally reserved for foreign companies considered a danger to U.S. national security. This designation will prevent the US military and its contractors and suppliers from working with the AI ​​company.

Hegseth also lashed out at Anthropic and its CEO, Dario Amodei, for the company’s refusal to accede to his demands. “Wrapped in the sanctimonious rhetoric of ‘effective altruism,’ they attempted to bully the U.S. military into submission — a cowardly act of corporate virtue signaling that places Silicon Valley ideology above the lives of Americans,” Hegseth wrote on X.

The Defense Department sought to change the terms of an agreement reached with Anthropic and other companies last July to eliminate restrictions on how AI can be deployed and instead allow “any lawful use” of the technology. Anthropic opposed the change, saying it could allow AI to be used to fully control deadly autonomous weapons or to carry out mass surveillance of US citizens.

The Pentagon does not currently use AI in this way and has said it has no plans to do so. However, senior Trump administration officials have expressed opposition to the idea of ​​a civilian technology company dictating the military use of such important technology.

Anthropic was the first major AI lab to work with the US military, under a $200 million deal signed with the Pentagon last year. He has created several custom designs known as Claude Gov that have fewer restrictions than regular designs. Google, OpenAI, and xAI signed similar deals around the same time, but Anthropic is the only AI company currently working with classified systems.

Anthropic’s model is available through platforms provided by Palantir and Amazon’s cloud platform for classified military work. Claude Gov is currently used largely for routine tasks, like writing reports and summarizing documents, but it is also used for intelligence analysis and military planning, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to WIRED on condition of anonymity because she is not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

In recent years, Silicon Valley, which largely avoided defense work, increasingly embraced it and eventually became a military company in its own right. The fight between Anthropic and the Pentagon is now testing the limits of this change. This week, several hundred workers at OpenAI and Google signed an open letter supporting Anthropic and criticizing their own companies’ decisions to remove restrictions on the military use of AI.

In a memo sent to OpenAI staff today, CEO Sam Altman said the company agrees with Anthropic and also considers mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons a “red line.” Altman added that the company would try to reach a deal with the Pentagon that would allow it to continue working with the military, the Wall Street Journal reported.