President Donald Trump on Friday ordered all U.S. federal agencies to phase out the use of AI tools from Anthropic, escalating a public dispute that began with Pentagon demands to broaden military use of the company’s models.
The directive follows a Pentagon deadline that urged Anthropic to permit unrestricted military use of its systems or face unspecified consequences. Anthropic’s leadership sought firm assurances that its technology would not be used to power fully autonomous weapons or enable mass domestic surveillance. The Pentagon says it is not seeking such uses.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei rejected the Pentagon’s conditions, saying the company “cannot in good conscience accede” to the ultimatum. Anthropic currently holds a $200 million (€169 million) contract with the Defense Department.
Democrats criticized the administration’s handling of the standoff. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the move “raises serious concerns about whether national security decisions are being driven by careful analysis or political considerations.”
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the department wants to “use Anthropic’s model for all lawful purposes,” but officials have not publicly detailed how the technology would be employed. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X that Anthropic had delivered “a master class in arrogance and betrayal,” adding that “America’s warfighters will never be held hostage by the ideological whims of Big Tech.”
Hegseth later labeled Anthropic a “supply-chain risk,” ordering that “no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic.” Anthropic condemned what it called “intimidation” by the Pentagon and said it would challenge any supply-chain-risk designation in court.
Soon after the dispute intensified, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced a separate agreement with the Pentagon to deploy his company’s models on the department’s classified network. Altman said on X that Defense Department officials showed “a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome,” and that the two red lines Anthropic insisted on — prohibitions on mass domestic surveillance and guarantees that humans remain responsible for use of force, including autonomous weapon systems — were addressed in OpenAI’s deal and reflected in law and policy.
The Trump administration gave the Defense Department and other agencies six months to remove Anthropic products. On Truth Social, Trump wrote: “I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology. We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again!” He warned he would use “the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow” if Anthropic did not cooperate during the phaseout.