President Donald Trump announced Friday that he will order all U.S. government agencies to “immediately cease” their use of technology from artificial intelligence company Anthropic.
President Trump’s sudden and unexpected order comes as the AI startup faces pressure from the Department of Defense to comply with Anthropic’s request to be able to use its technology without restrictions.
The company signed a $200 million contract with the Pentagon in July, but the company wants guarantees that the Pentagon won’t use its AI models for fully autonomous weapons or for mass surveillance of American citizens at home.
The Pentagon had given Anthropic a deadline of 5:01 p.m. ET on Friday to agree to the Pentagon’s request to allow it to use the technology for all lawful purposes.
If Anthropic did not meet that deadline, Pete Hegseth threatened to label the company a “supply chain risk” or invoke the Defense Production Act to force compliance.
“The left-wing lunatics at Anthropic made a disastrous mistake in trying to superpower the Department of the Army and force it to follow the Code of Service instead of the Constitution,” President Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Friday.
“Their self-interest is endangering American lives, endangering our military, and endangering our national security.”
“Therefore, I am directing all federal agencies of the United States Government to immediately cease using Anthropic’s technology,” President Trump wrote.
“I don’t need it, I don’t need it, I won’t do business with you again!”
“There will be a six-month phase-out period for government agencies, including the Department of the Army, that use Anthropic products at various levels,” President Trump said.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said the company “couldn’t in good conscience” allow the Pentagon to use its models without restriction.
On Friday, OpenAI, another major AI company, said it has similar “red lines” when it comes to the use of its technology by the Department of Defense and other customers.
“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 of high-stakes automated decision-making,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a memo obtained by CNBC.
OpenAI signed its own $200 million contract with the Department of Defense last year.
OpenAI’s contract was for the use of AI models in non-classified use cases, including routine office tasks.
Anthropic’s contract with the Department of Defense included classified work.
