President Trump on Friday ordered the federal government to cease all use of Anthropic’s (ANTH.PVT) technology, the latest volley in what’s been an ongoing standoff between the company and the Department of Defense (DOD).
In a post 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!”
Anthropic had been looking to put guardrails in place that would prevent the DOD from using its models for the mass surveillance of Americans or to develop fully autonomous weapons.
Trump said there will be a six-month phase-down period for agencies such as the DOD that use Anthropic’s products. He also threatened that if the company doesn’t “get their act together, and be helpful” during the period, he will “use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow.”
Prior to Trump’s announcement, the DOD threatened to require Anthropic to grant it full access to its AI models under the Defense Production Act or to label the company a supply chain threat, a designation traditionally reserved for companies from adversarial nations.
In a statement Thursday evening addressing the DOD’s threats, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei highlighted the company’s current work with the department, including with classified networks and advocating for strong chip export controls to China, but said he wouldn’t agree to the DOD’s terms.
“These threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request,” Amodei said.
In a separate statement, an Anthropic spokesperson said the DOD’s latest contract language doesn’t address the company’s concerns.
“The contract language we received overnight from the Department of War made virtually no progress on preventing Claude’s use for mass surveillance of Americans or in fully autonomous weapons,” the spokesperson said.
“New language framed as compromise was paired with legalese that would allow those safeguards to be disregarded at will. Despite DOW’s recent public statements, these narrow safeguards have been the crux of our negotiations for months.”
Also on Thursday evening, OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) CEO Sam Altman sent a memo to staff saying that the company is in contact with the Pentagon to have the DOD use its models in classified settings, but with the same guardrails Anthropic is seeking.
Earlier Thursday, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the DOD had no desire to surveil Americans or develop fully autonomous weapons.
“This is a simple, common-sense request that will prevent Anthropic from jeopardizing critical military operations and potentially putting our warfighters at risk. We will not let ANY company dictate the terms regarding how we make operational decisions. They have until 5:01 PM ET on Friday to decide,” Parnell wrote in a post on X.