US Bans Anthropic AI, Taps OpenAI for Pentagon
The Trump administration abruptly banned U.S. federal agencies from using Anthropic's AI systems, labeling the company an unprecedented "supply chain risk." Just hours later, rival OpenAI inked a new Pentagon contract, giving the Department of Defense privileged access to its most advanced models. The move solidifies OpenAI's dominance in the government sector amid an escalating clash over AI safety and military use.
The standoff escalated after Anthropic refused to meet a Pentagon deadline for allowing "unrestricted use" of its Claude AI models. CEO Dario Amodei stated the company "cannot in good conscience accede" to demands that would have weakened safeguards against the technology's use in mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. This refusal prompted President Trump to label the company "Leftwing nut jobs" on Truth Social. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formalized the ban by designating Anthropic a "supply chain risk," a label historically applied to foreign adversaries. This unprecedented action against a U.S. company not only terminates Anthropic's $200 million defense contract but also prohibits any contractor doing business with the military from working with the AI firm. Federal agencies have a six-month grace period to phase out Anthropic's technology. In a move that surprised some, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, a chief rival to Anthropic, publicly sided with the company's stance on AI safety. Altman stated in an interview that OpenAI shares the same "red lines" regarding the military use of AI. This sentiment was echoed in an open letter signed by nearly 500 employees from both OpenAI and Google, which stated, "we will not be divided." The new OpenAI contract with the Pentagon reportedly includes specific "red lines" that prohibit the use of its models for mass domestic surveillance or to direct autonomous weapons systems. OpenAI claims its agreement has stronger safeguards than Anthropic's original contract, including cloud-only deployment and the presence of cleared OpenAI personnel to monitor usage. The company has also publicly stated that Anthropic should not be designated a "supply chain risk." The administration's move is expected to benefit Elon Musk's xAI, with reports that its chatbot, Grok, is being positioned for access to classified military networks. Musk supported the ban on Anthropic, posting on his social media platform X that "Anthropic hates Western Civilization." Anthropic has vowed to challenge the "supply chain risk" designation in court, calling the move "legally unsound" and an unprecedented action against an American company. The company maintained that its proposed safeguards would not have affected a single government mission to date and that the new contract language offered by the Pentagon would have allowed those protections to be disregarded at will.
