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By Dan Gooding and Gabe Whisnant
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President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to begin phasing out the use of Anthropic’s artificial intelligence technology—remarks that came shortly before a Pentagon deadline tied to the company’s defense contract.
"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," Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday afternoon. "Their selfishness is putting AMERICAN LIVES at risk, our Troops in danger, and our National Security in JEOPARDY."
The comments on Truth Social were made more than an hour before the Defense Department’s cutoff for Anthropic to allow unrestricted military use of its AI systems or face potential consequences, and nearly a day after CEO Dario Amodei said the company “cannot in good conscience accede” to the department’s demands.
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Newsweek reached out to Anthropic for comment via email on Friday afternoon.
Why It Matters
The dispute centers on broader debates over the role of artificial intelligence in national security, including concerns about the use of advanced AI systems in situations involving lethal force, sensitive government data and surveillance.
Worries about how reliable AI is in high-stakes operations come alongside concerns over how President Donald Trump and his administration have wielded the military, deploying soldiers in American cities and killing at least 150 people in a highly criticized strike campaign against alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
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What To Know
Trump took to Truth Social to say he was instructing every federal agency across the U.S. to immediately cease use of all Anthropic products, saying, "We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again!" He added that the Department of Defense would phase out its use over six months.
Earlier Friday, the Department of Defense accused Anthropic of lying about how the U.S. military intended to use its Claude AI system. The Pentagon wanted to remove some limits on the product's use by the military.
Elon Musk’s competing chatbot, Grok, could benefit from the Trump administration's move. The Pentagon plans to give Musk's bot access to classified military networks.
Google and OpenAI also have contracts to supply their AI tools to the military, and Trump's decision could be seen as a warning to them, too. In a memo to staff on Thursday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he has similar red lines to Anthropic when it came to the government's use of its products.
Standoff Between Pentagon and Anthropic Explained
The U.S. used Claude as part of the daring operation to capture then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from his Caracas compound early January, The Wall Street Journal first reported. Although the U.S. has started deploying AI in military operations, it has not fully integrated AI into all of its systems and planning.
The firm's co-founder and CEO, Dario Amodei, said he would not allow Claude to be used by the military for "mass domestic surveillance" or "fully autonomous weapons". He said Anthropic was resisting the Department of Defense's demand to "remove safeguards" in both those use cases.
"Anthropic is lying," Under Secretary of War Emil Michael said in a post on X, replying to Amodei's statement, adding that the military "doesn’t do mass surveillance as that is already illegal."
In a separate post, Michael accused Amodei of having "a God-complex" and wanting "to try to personally control the US Military and is ok putting our nation’s safety at risk."
A spokesperson for Anthropic told Newsweek in a statement earlier on Friday: "The contract language we received from the Department of War made virtually no progress on preventing Claude's use for mass surveillance of Americans or in fully autonomous weapons."
The spokesperson had said Anthropic was ready to continue negotiations. Trump's comments suggested the time for talk was over for the two sides.
What People Are Saying
Democratic Virginia Senator Mark Warner, on X Friday: "Trump & Hegseth’s bullying of a company to deploy AI-driven weapons without safeguards should scare the hell out of all of us. This is about more than Anthropic – it’s about the responsible deployment of AI everywhere."
President Donald Trump, on Truth Social: "Anthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow. WE will decide the fate of our Country — NOT some out-of-control, Radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about."
Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, in a staff memo obtained by Axios: "[R]egardless of how we got here, this is no longer just an issue between Anthropic and the [Pentagon]; this is an issue for the whole industry and it is important to clarify our stance. We have long believed that AI should not be used for mass surveillance or autonomous lethal weapons, and that humans should remain in the loop for high-stakes automated decisions. These are our main red lines."
What Happens Next
Anthropic had yet to respond to the president's remarks on Friday evening, and it was not immediately clear what the impact would be on federal agencies if they were forced to immediately stop using the company's products.
This article contains reporting by The Associated Press.
Update 2/27/26, 5:02 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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