President Donald Trump said Friday that he is banning federal agencies from using the services of AI company Anthropic.
The announcement comes after months of heated rhetoric between the Defense Department and Anthropic over the military’s use of its systems.
“I am directing every federal agency of the United States government to cease all use of anthropic technology immediately. We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will never do business with them again!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
Anthropic did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The company, led by CEO Dario Amodei, made clear in months of contract talks with the Pentagon that it would not allow its AI systems to be used for direct use in domestic surveillance or lethal autonomous weapons.
The Pentagon has maintained that its AI systems should be allowed to be used for “any lawful use” that may violate Anthropic’s red lines.
“I deeply believe in the existential importance of using AI to protect the United States and other democracies,” Amode wrote in a statement Thursday night, but “using these systems for mass domestic surveillance is inconsistent with democratic values.” “Today, frontier AI systems are not reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons,” Amodei added.
In a series of tweets late Thursday night, Defense Undersecretary Emil Michael X wrote that Amodee “is a liar and has a god complex. He wants nothing more than to try to personally control the US military and it’s OK to jeopardize our nation’s security.”
Earlier Thursday, Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell wrote in X that the Pentagon’s desire to use the anthropogenic model for all legitimate purposes is “a simple, common-sense request that prevents critical military operations from being jeopardized.”
Anthropic currently has a $200 million contract with the Pentagon to “advance responsible AI in defense operations” and works with data analytics company Palantir to provide its AI services on classified defense and intelligence networks.
Throughout Friday, groups of lawmakers called on the parties to tone down their feud and come to an amicable solution, in contrast to the relative silence from Anthropic and the Pentagon in the hours before the deadline.
In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday afternoon, Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass. And Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said the Pentagon’s “threats to punish an American AI company for refusing to provide basic safeguards over its use of AI models represent an abuse of government power.”
Rep. George Whitesides, D-CA., told Hegseth in a letter released Friday morning that “your threats to force changes to safety policies on an accelerated timeline could push the department into a broader deployment.”
Unlike many major defense technologies, today’s leading AI systems have been developed primarily in the private sector, by companies such as Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google. The increasing capabilities of these systems have forced the Pentagon to haggle with Anthropic over its usage policies or opt for less proven services. Until this week, Anthropic was the only major AI company allowed to offer services on classified networks.
In a memo sent to employees Thursday evening and viewed by NBC News, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said his company would likely follow an anthropic approach if it were in the same position as the Pentagon.
“We have long believed that AI should not be used for mass surveillance or autonomous lethal weapons, and that humans should remain in the loop for high-stake automated decisions. These are our main red lines,” he wrote.
“This is no longer an issue between Anthropic and the DoW; it’s an issue for the entire industry, and it’s important to make our position clear,” added Altman.
It’s unclear how other major AI companies will respond. Google, Meta and xAI did not respond to a request for comment.
