president Donald Trump The U.S. government has announced it will cease use of Anthropic’s artificial intelligence technology in all federal systems, following a high-profile dispute with the Department of Defense (DoD) over ethical limits on the use of artificial intelligence.
In a statement issued through his social platform Truth Social, Trump directed federal agencies to phase out Anthropic’s tools within six months and threatened the company to face broader consequences if it did not comply.
Anthropic, the leading AI startup behind the Claude model, emphasizes the safety guardrails of its AI.
Read more: Humanity and Pentagon battle over how useful AI can be in monitoring U.S. citizens in war
Pentagon issues ultimatum on humanity and moral red lines
Defense Department officials set a deadline for Anthropic at 5:01 p.m. ET on Friday to lift restrictions on the use of its artificial intelligence model, Claude, for fully autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance.
While the Pentagon says it doesn’t plan to use AI in these ways, it does require AI companies to use its models “for all lawful purposes.”
minister of defense Peter Heggs Demand that Anthropic remove longstanding ethical red lines around large-scale domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons systems.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei publicly rejected the request, saying the company “cannot in good conscience agree” to a request that could compromise security and democratic values.
Sam Altman aligns with Anthropic on ethical use of AI
The obsolescence affects Anthropic’s Claude AI, a competitor to OpenAI, Google and Elon Musk’s xAI models, and one of the few AI tools integrated into U.S. military systems and classified networks.
Sam AltmanOpenAI’s CEO expressed support for some of Anthropic’s ethical stances. Altman has publicly stated that he opposes “red lines” for unrestricted military use of artificial intelligence, similar to what Anthropic advocates, emphasizing the risks of mass surveillance and unauthorized weaponization.
On Friday morning, Altman told CNBC that companies should cooperate with the military “as long as they comply with legal protections.”
Read more: Anthropic rejects Pentagon’s latest proposal, artificial intelligence dispute escalates
“The United States of America will never allow the radical left, woke corporations…”
“The United States of America will never allow the radical left, woke corporations, to dictate how our great military fights and wins wars,” Trump wrote in his Truth Society post.
In the scathing post, the president accused Anthropic of trying to “strong-arm” the Pentagon and force it to comply with its terms of service.
“Therefore, I am directing every federal agency in the United States Government to immediately stop using Anthropic’s technology. We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and we will never do business with them again!” Trump wrote.
Trump announced that Anthropic’s products would be phased out within six months. “Humanity had better come together and help during this phase-out period, or I will use the full power of the President to bring them into compliance, with significant civil and criminal consequences to follow,” he wrote.
Under a $200 million Pentagon contract, Crowder was responsible for national security responsibilities such as cloud support and intelligence processing.
