President Donald Trump has directed all federal agencies to immediately cease using technology from Anthropic, escalating a public dispute over artificial intelligence safety. The order came just before a deadline for the Department of Defense and the AI company to reach an agreement, which lapsed on Friday afternoon.
Trump announced the directive on Truth Social, accusing Anthropic of trying to 'strong-arm' the Pentagon. 'The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE,' he wrote, adding that the company's ethical guidelines were incompatible with the US Constitution. The Pentagon had demanded Anthropic loosen its safety restrictions or face consequences.
Hours later, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced a new deal with the Pentagon to supply AI for classified military networks, potentially filling the gap left by Anthropic's exclusion. Altman stated that the same safety principles at the heart of the dispute—prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force—were enshrined in the agreement.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth classified Anthropic as a supply-chain risk to national security, a designation usually reserved for foreign adversaries. He ordered that no Pentagon contractor or supplier may conduct commercial activity with Anthropic. The Government Services Administration also terminated its contracts with the company.
Anthropic responded by saying it had not received direct communications from the Pentagon or White House about the negotiations. It expressed sadness over the events and vowed to challenge the supply-chain risk designation in court, calling it an unprecedented action against an American company.
