On Friday, President Donald Trump announced that he was directing all U. S. government agencies to "immediately cease" using technology from the AI company Anthropic. In a post on Truth Social, Trump specified a six-month phase-out period for agencies like the Defense Department, which "are using Anthropic's products, at various levels. " Shortly after Trump's directive, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated on X that he was instructing the Pentagon to "designate Anthropic a Supply-Chain Risk to National Security" after the AI startup declined to comply with governmental demands regarding the use of its technology. Anthropic responded late Friday with a statement expressing that it was "deeply saddened by these developments. " The company also said it plans to legally challenge any supply chain risk designation. "We believe this designation would both be legally unsound and set a dangerous precedent for any American company that negotiates with the government, " Anthropic added. In July, Anthropic signed a $200 million contract with the Pentagon, seeking assurances that its AI models would not be employed for fully autonomous weapons or large-scale domestic surveillance of Americans. The Pentagon strongly opposed that request and set a deadline of 5:01 p. m. ET on Friday for Anthropic to accept demands allowing the U. S. military to use the technology for all lawful purposes.

That deadline expired without an agreement. Hegseth declared on X that "Anthropic's stance is fundamentally incompatible with American principles, " adding, "Their relationship with the United States Armed Forces and the Federal Government has therefore been permanently altered. " He also noted, "Anthropic will continue to provide the Department of War its services for a period of no more than six months to allow for a seamless transition to a better and more patriotic service. " Hegseth emphasized, "America's warfighters will never be held hostage by the ideological whims of Big Tech. This decision is final. " In his Truth Social post, Trump stated, "The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution. " He further warned, "Their selfishness is putting AMERICAN LIVES at risk, our Troops in danger, and our National Security in JEOPARDY. " Consequently, Trump declared, "I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic's technology, " asserting, "We don't need it, we don't want it, and will not do business with them again!" Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat and vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, criticized Trump's action. Warner remarked in a statement, "The president's directive to halt the use of a leading American AI company across the federal government, combined with inflammatory rhetoric attacking that company, raises serious concerns about whether national security decisions are being driven by careful analysis or political considerations. " He added, "President Trump and Secretary Hegseth's efforts to intimidate and disparage a leading American company — potentially as the pretext to steer contracts to a preferred vendor whose model a number of federal agencies have already identified as a reliability, safety, and security threat — pose an enormous risk to U. S. defense readiness and the willingness of the U. S. private sector and academia to work with the IC [Intelligence Community] and DoD, consistent with their own values and legal ethics. " Elon Musk, the billionaire who was President Trump's largest financial backer in the 2024 election, owns xAI, a company that intends to compete directly with Anthropic and OpenAI, another major AI firm. Recently, Musk has repeatedly criticized Anthropic on his social platform X, writing on Friday that the company "hates Western civilization. "