President Donald Trump has publicly barred federal agencies from\nusing AI tools developed by Anthropic. The hardline stance follows a\ndispute between Anthropic and the Department of Defence (DoD) that\nfailed to reach agreement. Anthropic is the DoD\u2019s official supplier of\nAI tools for military needs, notably in defence; in 2025 it secured a\nsubstantive contract valued at US$200 million.<\/p>\n
Tensions intensified when Anthropic refused to permit its AI to be\nused to develop autonomous weapons or to facilitate domestic\nsurveillance of US citizens. The DoD argued that the tool should be\nusable for actions that are legal.<\/p>\n
Anthropic\u2019s refusal drew a strong response from Trump, who labelled\nAnthropic a left\u2011wing, \u2018woke\u2019 company that threatens national security\nand endangers American lives. He also rejected the idea that Anthropic\nshould dictate how the military fights and wins on the battlefield.<\/p>\n
After banning Anthropic\u2019s use, the Wall Street Journal reported that\nthe United States\u2019 strikes against Iran were still using Claude AI for\nintelligence assessments, target identification and battle\u2011scenario\nsimulations.<\/p>\n
Anthropic Ready to Fight the Government<\/p>\n
On Tuesday 4 March, Anthropic received a letter from the DoD\nconfirming that the company had been placed on the national security\nsupply\u2011chain risk list. In a statement on its official site, CEO Dario\nAmodei responded: \u2018As we have written before, we do not believe that\ntaking this action [placing Anthropic on the supply\u2011chain risk list] is\nlegal. We have no choice but to fight this in court,\u2019 he wrote.<\/p>\n
Amodei noted that the language used by the DoD in the letter aligned\nwith Anthropic\u2019s own statement from the previous week, that most\ncustomers remain unaffected by the supply\u2011chain risk designation. He\nstressed that the designation, even if disagreed with, applies only to\nuses of Claude directly connected to the DoD contract.<\/p>\n
He said productive discussions with the DoD had taken place in recent\ndays, including talks about ways the company could serve the DoD under\ntwo narrow exceptions they had proposed, and about how to ensure a\nsmooth transition if those two exceptions proved unfeasible.<\/p>\n
\u2018We are very proud of the work we have done with the Department,\nsupporting soldiers on the front line with applications such as\nintelligence analysis, modelling and simulation, operational planning,\ncyber operations, and many more,\u2019 Amodei wrote.<\/p>\n
\u2018As we have stated before, we do not believe, and have never\nbelieved, that Anthropic\u2019s or any private company\u2019s role is to be\ninvolved in operational decision\u2011making, as that is the military\u2019s\nresponsibility. Our only concerns are the two exceptions for autonomous\nweapons and mass domestic surveillance, which relate to high\u2011level use\nand are not about operational decisions,\u2019 Amodei emphasised.<\/p>\n
Finally, Amodei said the company\u2019s top priority is ensuring that\nsoldiers and national\u2011security experts do not lose important tools\nduring large\u2011scale combat operations. Anthropic will provision its\nmodels to the DoD and the national\u2011security community at a nominal cost,\nwith ongoing support from its engineers, for as long as required to\ncomplete the transition and as long as it is allowed to do so.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/trump-ousted-us-advanced-weapons-supplier-ready-to-challenge-the-government-1772791377", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }