President Trump demanded on Friday that U.S. government agencies cut their existing ties with generative artificial intelligence company Anthropic (ANTHRO) amid a dispute over how its AI models are used.
“The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “Their selfishness is putting AMERICAN LIVES at risk, our Troops in danger, and our National Security in JEOPARDY. Therefore, 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! There will be a Six Month phase out period for Agencies like the Department of War who are using Anthropic’s products, at various levels. Anthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow.”
Anthropic on Thursday said that the company “cannot in good conscience” allow the Department of Defense to use its models in all lawful use cases without limitation, adding that the agency’s threats do not change its position.
“It is the Department’s prerogative to select contractors most aligned with their vision,” CEO Dario Amodei wrote in a statement. “But given the substantial value that Anthropic’s technology provides to our armed forces, we hope they reconsider.”
“Partially autonomous weapons, like those used today in Ukraine, are vital to the defense of democracy. Even fully autonomous weapons (those that take humans out of the loop entirely and automate selecting and engaging targets) may prove critical for our national defense. But today, frontier AI systems are simply not reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons. We will not knowingly provide a product that puts America’s warfighters and civilians at risk,” Amodei added.
The AI startup had been engaged in tense negotiations with the Pentagon lately, and it said Thursday that those discussions were still ongoing. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had threatened to label Anthropic a “supply chain risk” or to invoke the Defense Production Act to force the company to comply with its demands.
Hegseth met with Amodei at the Pentagon on Tuesday and gave Anthropic until Friday evening to accept his agency’s terms. According to a senior Pentagon official, the U.S. Department of Defense delivered its “last and final offer” to Anthropic on Wednesday night, CNBC reported.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Thursday that the DoD had “no interest” in using Anthropic’s models for fully autonomous weapons or to conduct mass surveillance of Americans, which he noted is illegal. He emphasized that the agency wants the company to agree to allow its models to be used for “all lawful purposes.”
“This is a simple, common-sense request that will prevent Anthropic from jeopardizing critical military operations and potentially putting our warfighters at risk,” Parnell wrote in a post on X on Thursday. “We will not let ANY company dictate the terms regarding how we make operational decisions.”
Anthropic signed a $200M contract with the United States Department of Defense in July, becoming the first lab to deploy its models in mission workflows on classified networks. Rivals OpenAI (OPENAI), Google (GOOG) (GOOGL), and xAI (X.AI) also received DoD awards worth up to $200M last year.