Anthropic–United States Department of Defense dispute

Pete Hegseth
Dario Amodei
Hegseth, the United States secretary of defense, has publicly rebuked Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei's approach to artificial intelligence.

Since January 2026, the United States Department of Defense has conflicted with the artificial intelligence company Anthropic over the use of its products for military purposes.

Background

Artificial intelligence in the U.S. military

Main article: Use of artificial intelligence by the United States Department of Defense
See also: Artificial intelligence arms race

The United States Department of Defense began developing lethal autonomous weapons as early as the Reagan administration.[1] The Department of Defense established a policy on the use of artificial intelligence in 2012.[2] Efforts to utilize artificial intelligence intensified under the term of secretary Ash Carter.[3] The Department of Defense's use of artificial intelligence for Project Maven prompted concerns within Google in 2018, leading to protests and mass resignations.[4]

Anthropic in the second Trump administration

In Donald Trump's second presidency, the artificial intelligence company Anthropic has publicly disagreed with the administration's policies and initiatives. In January 2025, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei criticized the artificial intelligence investment project Stargate as "chaotic" and opposed Trump's rescission of president Joe Biden's executive order on artificial intelligence, but noted that Anthropic had held discussions with Trump officials about artificial intelligence policy.[5] Amid discussions over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Anthropic privately lobbied for Congress to vote against a bill preventing states from regulating artificial intelligence and expressed opposition to an artificial intelligence agreement signed among Gulf states in Trump's visit to the Middle East in May. According to Semafor, Trump officials chastised Anthropic's hiring of several officials involved in the Biden administration, including Elizabeth Kelly, the former director of the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute; Tarun Chhabra, the coordinator for technology and national security in the National Security Council; and Ben Buchanan, Biden's advisor for artificial intelligence.[6] The following month, Amodei wrote an op-ed in The New York Times describing the artificial intelligence regulation bill, then tied to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, as "far too blunt an instrument".[7]

Prior to the dispute, the Trump administration had integrated Anthropic's services. By November 2024, Anthropic had already partnered with Palantir and Amazon Web Services, companies that offered services with FedRAMP authorization. In the Biden administration, Anthropic had reached an agreement with the AI Safety Institute and had participated in a nuclear information safety evaluation.[8] The Department of Homeland Security authorized its workers to use commercial artificial intelligence systems, including Anthropic's Claude, until May 2025.[9] Through its interoperability with Palantir, a company heavily involved in data analysis and analytics at the Department of Defense, Anthropic's technology achieved relatively widespread usage in the U.S. military.[10] The following month, Anthropic announced that it would allow national security customers to use Claude Gov.[11] Anthropic's orthogonal usage policy to the surveillance systems implemented at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement led to a conflict between Anthropic and the Trump administration by September.[12] That month, Amodei criticized Trump's approach to export restrictions on semiconductors.[13]

Anthropic's strategy has mirrored Amodei's views towards Trump; in a Facebook post ahead of the 2024 presidential election, Amodei urged his associates to vote for vice president Kamala Harris over Trump, describing him as a "feudal warlord". As the Trump administration targeted law firms, Amodei cut ties with the firms Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Latham & Watkins, which reached agreements with the Trump administration to avoid punishment. David Sacks, Trump's advisor for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, said on All-In (2020–present) that Anthropic was among several "AI doomers" that support regulation he saw as overly restrictive. According to The Wall Street Journal, officials close to Sacks examined whether Anthropic's Claude was a "woke AI"; in July, Trump signed an executive order barring the federal government from using woke artificial intelligence systems.[14]

Sacks viewed Amodei's decision to attend the World Economic Forum over Trump's second inauguration; his hiring of Biden officials; and Anthropic's association with the philanthropic initiative Open Philanthropy as evidence that Anthropic would not support Trump's agenda.[14] In October 2025, Sacks stated that Anthropic was "running a sophisticated regulatory capture strategy based on fear-mongering".[15] That month, Amodei published a blog post rebuffing "inaccurate claims" from the Trump administration on Anthropic's policies, intensifying the dispute. Amodei's statement included views explicitly espoused by vice president JD Vance.[16] In December, Amodei met with Trump officials and several senators in an effort to improve Anthropic's relationship with the Trump administration.[17]

Dispute

In December 2025, secretary of defense Pete Hegseth announced GenAI.mil, an artificial intelligence platform for the Department of Defense. The department initially contracted Google Gemini for the platform.[18] The following month, Hegseth announced that the Department of Defense would additionally contract xAI's Grok for use in the military, decrying "woke AI".[19] In January 2026, Semafor reported that the Department of Defense had conflicted with Anthropic over its policies on lethal military force and that Hegseth's comment on woke AI was a reference to Anthropic.[20] According to Reuters, Anthropic representatives opposed the use of the company's products for surveillance or to develop lethal autonomous weapons. The dispute between Anthropic and the Department of Defense threatened a contract worth as much as US$200 million.[21]

In February 2026, Emil Michael, the under secretary of defense for research and engineering, stated that the Department of Defense would expand access to commercial artificial intelligence systems, including Anthropic's Claude, to unclassified and classified domains.[22] That month, Axios reported that the Department of Defense had used Claude in the United States intervention in Venezuela. Anthropic told Axios that it would reassess its partnership with the Department of Defense after the revelations.[23] After Anthropic refused to agree to allow the Department of Defense to use Claude for "all lawful purposes", the department threatened to cancel its contracts with the company.[24] Hegseth additionally considered labeling Anthropic a "supply chain risk", a move that would force military contractors to cut ties with Anthropic.[25]

That month, Michael told reporters that Anthropic should "cross the Rubicon" and allow the Department of Defense to dictate the terms of how its technology is used.[26]

Impact

The dispute caused 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm associated with Donald Trump Jr., to abandon an investment in Anthropic worth hundreds of millions of dollars.[27]

References

  1. ^ Markoff, John (November 11, 2014). "Fearing Bombs That Can Pick Whom to Kill". The New York Times. Retrieved February 27, 2026.
  2. ^ Markoff, John (February 28, 2016). "Report Cites Dangers of Autonomous Weapons". The New York Times. Retrieved February 27, 2026.
  3. ^ Markoff, John (May 11, 2016). "Pentagon Turns to Silicon Valley for Edge in Artificial Intelligence". The New York Times. Retrieved February 27, 2026.
  4. ^ Shane, Scott; Metz, Cade; Wakabayashi, Daisuke (May 30, 2018). "How a Pentagon Contract Became an Identity Crisis for Google". The New York Times. Retrieved February 27, 2026.
  5. ^ Davalos, Jackie; Ghaffary, Shirin (January 22, 2025). "Anthropic CEO Says OpenAI's 'Stargate' Venture Seems 'Chaotic'". Bloomberg News. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  6. ^ Albergotti, Reed (May 30, 2025). "Anthropic emerges as an adversary to Trump's big bill". Semafor. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  7. ^ Fortinsky, Sarah (June 5, 2025). "Anthropic CEO: GOP AI regulation proposal 'too blunt'". The Hill. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  8. ^ Heilweil, Rebecca (November 20, 2024). "Anthropic eyes FedRAMP accreditation in quest to sell more AI to government". FedScoop. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  9. ^ Heilweil, Rebecca (May 22, 2025). "Homeland Security cuts off access to ChatGPT and other commercial AI". FedScoop. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  10. ^ Heilweil, Rebecca (February 27, 2026). "Trump is booting Anthropic from the military. Palantir helped bring it there". Fast Company. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  11. ^ Heilweil, Rebecca (June 5, 2025). "Anthropic drops Claude Gov for natsec customers, hastening the public sector AI race". FedScoop. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  12. ^ Albergotti, Reed (September 17, 2025). "Anthropic irks White House with limits on models' use". Semafor. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  13. ^ Shapero, Julia (September 15, 2025). "Anthropic CEO criticizes administration's chip policy, calls for stronger restrictions". The Hill. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  14. ^ a b Jin, Berber; Ramkumar, Amrith (September 18, 2025). "A Tech CEO's Lonely Fight Against Trump". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  15. ^ Curi, Maria (October 21, 2025). "Anthropic tries to defuse White House backlash". Axios. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  16. ^ Heilweil, Rebecca (October 22, 2025). "Anthropic's relationship with the U.S. government is getting complicated". Fast Company. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  17. ^ Jones, Rachyl (December 5, 2025). "Anthropic's Dario Amodei on relationship-repair tour in DC". Semafor. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  18. ^ Sabin, Sam; Demarest, Colin (December 9, 2025). "U.S. military to use Google Gemini for new AI platform". Axios. Retrieved February 27, 2026.
  19. ^ "US-Verteidigungsminister will KI-Chatbot Grok für das Militär nutzen" [U.S. secretary of defense wants to use AI chatbot Grok for the military]. Die Zeit (in German). January 13, 2026. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  20. ^ Albergotti, Reed (January 16, 2026). "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth jabs Anthropic over safety policies". Semafor. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  21. ^ Seetharaman, Deepa; Jeans, David; Dastin, Jeffrey (January 29, 2026). "Pentagon clashes with Anthropic over military AI use, sources say". Reuters. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  22. ^ Jeans, David; Seetharaman, Deepa (February 11, 2026). "Pentagon pushing AI companies to expand on classified networks, sources say". Reuters. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  23. ^ Lawler, Dave; Curi, Maria (February 13, 2026). "Pentagon's use of Claude during Maduro raid sparks Anthropic feud". Axios. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  24. ^ Lawler, Dave; Curi, Maria (February 14, 2026). "Pentagon threatens to cut off Anthropic in AI safeguards dispute". Axios. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  25. ^ Lawler, Dave; Curi, Maria; Allen, Mike (February 16, 2026). "Pentagon threatens Anthropic punishment". Axios. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  26. ^ Vincent, Brandi (February 19, 2026). "Pentagon CTO urges Anthropic to 'cross the Rubicon' on military AI use cases amid ethics dispute". DefenseScoop. Retrieved March 10, 2026.
  27. ^ Hagey, Keach; Ramkumar, Amrith; Acosta, Deborah; Bergengruen, Vera (February 17, 2026). "'Woke' AI Feud Escalates Between Pentagon and Anthropic". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 10, 2026.

Further reading

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