Dario Amodei, co-founder and CEO of Anthropic, speaks to Bloomberg TV in San Francisco on December 9, 2025.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei acknowledged Thursday that the U.S. government has designated the company a supply chain risk, saying he has “no choice” but to challenge the designation in court.
The startup has been at odds with the Department of Defense over how its artificial intelligence model, known as Claude, is used, and late last week learned through social media posts that it was being blacklisted from government contracts.
Anthropic sought assurances that its technology would not be used for fully autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance, but the Department of Defense wanted Anthropic to be granted unfettered access to Claude for all lawful purposes.
“As I stated last Friday, I do not believe, and never have believed, that it is the role of Anthropic or private industry to be involved in operational decision-making. That is the role of the military,” Amodei wrote. “Our only concerns are the exceptions regarding fully autonomous weapons and large-scale domestic surveillance, which are related to high-level areas of use and not operational decision-making.”
Anthropic is the only U.S. company ever to be publicly designated as a supply chain risk, which requires defense vendors and contractors to certify that they are not using the company’s model in their work with the Department of Defense. The label has typically targeted organizations operating within foreign adversaries, such as Chinese tech company Huawei.
Uncertainty remains as to whether defense contractors will be able to use Anthropic’s technology for projects other than work with the military. Amodei said in the post that the designation “does not (and cannot) limit Claude’s use or business relationship with Anthropic, unless unrelated to a specific Department of the Army contract.”
microsoftThe company, which announced plans to invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic in November, said in a statement that its lawyers “reviewed the designation” and determined that Anthropic products will continue to be available to customers outside the Department of Defense.
Anthropic won a $200 million contract with the Department of Defense in July, becoming the first AI lab to integrate its models into mission workflows on classified networks. But as negotiations between the two sides stalled, rivals OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI also agreed to deploy their models confidentially.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the company’s deal with the Department of Defense on Friday, hours after Anthropic was blacklisted. In a post on X, he said the agency has shown “a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcomes.”
Relations between Anthropic and the Trump administration have become increasingly strained in recent months, with Amodei on Wednesday apologizing for important internal memos leaked to the press.
The Information reported that Amodei told staff he didn’t like the administration because Anthropic wasn’t making donations or “glorifying Trump in a dictator style.”
He said the memo was written on Friday after a “difficult day for the company” and did not reflect his “careful or considered views.” Amodei added that this is an “outdated assessment of the current situation.”
“Anthropic did not leak this post or direct anyone else to do so. It is not in our interest to escalate this situation,” Amodei wrote.
Watch: Section Pete Hegseth Directs Department of Defense to Designate Human-Made Supply Chain Risks to National Security
