Trump declares Anthropic ‘woke’ and orders Pentagon to phase it out

Negotiations between the Pentagon and AI company Anthropic were seriously complicated Friday when President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that the government would stop using the company’s technology. The president ordered the Pentagon to begin a six-month phase-out period, accusing Anthropic of being run by “left-wing weirdos.”

The Truth Social post said Anthropic wanted the government to honor its terms of service.

“THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL NEVER ALLOW A RADICAL LEFT AND WAKED COMPANY TO DICATE HOW OUR GREAT MILITARY FIGHTS AND WINS WARS!,” Trump wrote. “This decision is up to YOUR COMMANDER IN CHIEF and the great leaders I am appointing to lead our military. The left-wing nutjobs at Anthropic made a DISASTRUOUS MISTAKE by trying to strengthen the Department of War and force them to obey their terms of service instead of our Constitution.”

Credit: Screenshot courtesy of Truth Social

The federal government and Anthropic have been at odds for weeks as they try to reach an agreement on how the military can use Claude, Anthropic’s AI model. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has been firm that he will not allow the Pentagon to use Claude for mass surveillance of Americans or to create autonomous weapons, such as unmanned drones.

The government would have accepted these conditions, according to New York Timesbut the legal language of the contract provided too much wiggle room for Anthropic’s comfort. Anthropic is known for taking a more cautious approach to AI development, and its founders left OpenAI due to AI security concerns.

On Thursday, Amodei explained his position in a blog post:

“Anthropic understands that the War Department, not private companies, makes military decisions. We have never raised objections to particular military operations or attempted to limit the use of our technology in an ad hoc manner.

However, in a limited number of cases, we believe that AI can undermine democratic values ​​rather than uphold them. Some uses are simply outside the bounds of what current technology can do safely and reliably. »

The deadline was Friday evening for a deal between the Pentagon and Anthropic. It’s unclear whether Trump’s announcement of a phaseout will amount to more time for negotiations or whether the government is actually moving forward with the Anthropic layoff by declaring it a supply chain risk. The government could also seek to force Anthropic to agree to its terms through the Defense Production Act, according to the Times. The government could also choose another AI partner, such as Elon Musk’s Grok, but CIA officials believe that product is inferior to Anthropic’s, the government said. Times reports.

Following the president’s announcement Friday afternoon, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appeared on CNBC and expressed his support for Anthropic. “Despite all the differences I have with Anthropic, I mostly trust them as a company and I think they really care about security, and I’m glad they support our fighters,” Altman said, according to an excerpt of the appearance published on X.

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Meanwhile, dozens of employees from Google and OpenAI, both Anthropic competitors, signed letters supporting Amodei’s positions. And outside Anthropic’s headquarters in San Francisco, words of support appeared in chalk on the sidewalk, according to an article on X.

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This week, Anthropic relaxed its security policy — often considered one of the strongest in Silicon Valley — citing competitors’ reluctance to do the same and the federal government’s disinterest in prioritizing security.

“The policy environment has shifted toward prioritizing AI competitiveness and economic growth, while discussions focused on security have yet to gain traction at the federal level,” the company wrote. “We remain confident that effective government engagement in AI security is both necessary and achievable, and we aim to continue to advance a conversation based on evidence, national security interests, economic competitiveness and public trust.” But this turns out to be a long-term project, not something that happens organically as AI becomes more capable or crosses certain thresholds.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, the parent company of Mashable, filed a lawsuit in April 2025 against OpenAI, alleging that it had violated Ziff Davis’ copyrights in the training and operation of its AI systems.