Trump orders government to stop using Anthropic in battle over AI use

Reuters

US President Donald Trump said Friday he would direct every federal agency to immediately stop using technology from AI developer Anthropic.

"We don't need it, we don't want it, and will not do business with them again!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

Anthropic is mired in a row with the White House after refusing demands that it agree to give the US military unfettered access to its AI tools. The refusal led US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to say he's deemed Anthropic a "supply chain risk".

The label would make Anthropic the first US company to ever publicly receive such treatment. The company said Friday night it "will challenge any supply chain risk designation in court".

Trump's directive came after days of back and forth, in public and private, between the company's CEO Dario Amodei and Hegseth.

The company had grown concerned in recent months about the government potentially using its AI tools, like Claude, in what it described as "mass surveillance" and "fully autonomous weapons".

Hegseth and the Pentagon have insisted that Anthropic agree to "any lawful use" of its tools and technology.

Both Trump and Hegseth announced their decisions against Anthropic on social media, with the defence secretary saying on X that Anthropic would be "immediately" designated a supply chain risk, prohibiting any business working with the military from "any commercial activity with Anthropic".

Anthropic said Friday evening that it had yet to hear anything directly from the White House or the military "on the status of our negotiations".

Outsourcing IT services.trump orders government

Nevertheless, the company said being designated a supply chain risk "would both be legally unsound and set a dangerous precedent for any American company that negotiates with the government".

"No amount of intimidation or punishment from the Department of War will change our position on mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons", the company added.

The Department of War is a secondary name Trump has given to the defence department.

Anthropic's tools will be phased out of all government work over the next six months, Trump said.

As for Anthropic's other customers, the company said the only impact will be on companies that also contract with the military. Those companies may have to stop using Anthropic for work being done on behalf of the department.

Prior to Trump's pronouncement, Anthropic had said that if the US Department of Defense chose to stop using the company's tools the company would "work to enable a smooth transition to another provider".

Yet, Trump berated the company on his Truth Social platform, saying Anthropic "better

Original aticle here: BBC