President Donald Trump on Friday ordered all federal agencies to “IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology,” ending an ongoing dispute between the Pentagon and the artificial intelligence (AI) company.
In a directive posted to Truth Social, Trump wrote: “We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again!”
Federal agencies have begun offboarding Anthropic technology from their systems following the president’s order. It remains unclear how long the offboarding process will take across the federal government or how broadly the order will be applied. Trump said there will be a six-month phaseout period for agencies “who are using Anthropic’s products, at various levels.”
DOD vs. Anthropic
Trump’s order follows a dispute between the Defense Department (DOD) – rebranded as the War Department by the Trump administration – and Anthropic over the company’s policies limiting certain uses of its Claude AI model.
The dispute centered on Anthropic’s restrictions on the use of its technology for fully autonomous weapons systems and mass domestic surveillance.
After days of discussions, the DOD issued an ultimatum to Anthropic, directing the company to allow the Pentagon access to Claude without restrictions for all lawful purposes by 5:01 p.m. on Friday.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei responded Thursday evening, saying the company understands that the DOD, not private businesses, makes military decisions and that it has not attempted to limit the use of its technology in an “ad hoc manner.”
“However, in a narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values. Some uses are also simply outside the bounds of what today’s technology can safely and reliably do,” Amodei said.
He cited concerns about mass surveillance of Americans and the use of autonomous weapon systems capable of targeting without human intervention. Amodei said Anthropic would work to ensure a smooth transition if the department opted to offboard its technology.
Pentagon Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael disputed the company’s position in a statement posted on X, writing, “Anthropic is lying,” and saying the department wants to be able to “use AI without having to call [Amodei] for permission to shoot down an enemy drone swarms that would kill Americans.”
Developments following the order
Within hours of President Trump’s order, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the DOD to classify Anthropic as a supply chain risk to national security, effective immediately.
“No contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic,” Hegseth wrote.
Hegseth said Anthropic will continue providing services to the DOD for no more than six months to allow for a transition.
In response, the company said designating it as a supply chain risk would be unprecedented for an American firm and that it would challenge any such designation in court. Anthropic also claimed that such a designation would apply only to DOD contracts and would not affect commercial customers or other uses of its Claude model.
Following the president’s directive, the General Services Administration (GSA) said it is removing Anthropic from USAi.gov and its Multiple Award Schedule.
“GSA stands with the President in rejecting attempts to politicize work dedicated to America’s national security. Building resilient, secure, and scalable AI solutions demands alignment, trust, and a willingness to make hard calls,” GSA Administrator Edward Forst said in a statement. “We’re committed to delivering results for Americans and working with our AI industry partners who fit the bill.”
Criticism of the ban
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., praised Anthropic’s stance in a Friday interview with Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo.
“Good for Anthropic,” Khanna said. “I don’t want technology used by a federal government to have mass surveillance on American citizens. That’s common sense.”
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said in a statement that Anthropic is “trying to do the right thing” by putting guardrails in place in the absence of legislation.
“Any freedom loving American can appreciate Anthropic’s attempts to prevent the DOD from using its AI model for mass surveillance of Americans,” Lofgren said. “And it should go without saying that AI technology should not be making potentially lethal decisions without human involvement.”
Alexandra Givens, president and CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology, said the president’s action sets a precedent.
“The president is wielding the full weight of the federal government to blacklist a company for taking a narrowly-tailored, principled stance to restrict some of the most extreme uses of AI you could imagine – fully autonomous weapons and the mass surveillance of Americans,” Givens said in a statement. “This action sets a dangerous precedent.”
OpenAI agreement follows Anthropic exit
Friday afternoon, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that his company reached an agreement with the Pentagon to deploy its artificial intelligence models in classified military networks, potentially filling the gap left by Anthropic’s ouster.
Altman said the agreement includes prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and directing autonomous weapons systems, as well as safeguards to ensure human responsibility for the use of force. He said OpenAI would deploy field deployment engineers and operate on cloud networks only.
Michael responded to Altman’s comments saying, “When it’s comes to matters of life and death for our warfighters, having a reliable and steady partner that engages in good faith makes all the difference as we enter into the AI Age.”
The DOD has not released any contract details.