World News: Trump orders US government to stop using Anthropic technology
President Donald Trump has ordered every federal agency to immediately stop using technology from AI developer Anthropic, a directive that will phase the company’s tools out of government work over the next six months and has become a prominent item in world news because it follows a Pentagon supply‑chain move and a rapid industry response.
World News: the presidential directive and social‑media declarations
Trump said he would direct all federal agencies to “immediately cease” use of Anthropic technology and wrote on Truth Social, “We don't need it, we don't want it, and will not do business with them again!” He also posted a separate message berating Anthropic and warning the company to “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. ” Trump has used the alternate label “Department of War” for the defence department in his posts.
Pentagon impasse, Hegseth’s designation and contract details
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he would designate Anthropic a “supply chain risk, ” declaring the company’s stance “fundamentally incompatible with American principles. ” Hegseth wrote on X that “Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic, ” and that “America’s warfighters will never be held hostage by the ideological whims of Big Tech. ”
The Pentagon had pushed Anthropic to accept a requirement to permit “any lawful use” of its tools; the two sides hit an impasse as a deadline for an agreement lapsed on Friday afternoon. Hegseth said the Pentagon, which had a $200m, two‑year agreement with Anthropic, will continue to use Anthropic’s AI services only for a transition period of no more than six months. The government services administration then said Friday evening that it had terminated its contracts with Anthropic.
Dario Amodei, company resistance and core safeguards at issue
The row followed days of public and private back‑and‑forth between Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Pete Hegseth. Anthropic refused demands that it agree to give the US military unfettered access to its AI tools, and it would not remove ethical safeguards. Anthropic warned it was concerned about potential government use of tools like Claude for “mass surveillance” and “fully autonomous weapons, ” and its management has rejected Pentagon demands to drop those safeguards.
Anthropic noted that if the Department of Defense chose to stop using the company's tools it would “work to enable a smooth transition to another provider. ” The company also said it would “challenge any supply chain risk designation in court. ”
OpenAI, Sam Altman and a new Pentagon agreement
Hours after Anthropic’s exclusion, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that his company had struck a deal with the Pentagon to supply AI to classified military networks, a move that could fill a gap created by Anthropic’s ouster. Altman said the same red lines that were central to the Anthropic dispute — including prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and the principle of human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems — are enshrined in OpenAI’s new partnership.
Altman wrote that the Pentagon “agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement, ” and he said he hoped the Pentagon would “offer these same terms to all AI companies” to help move toward negotiated agreements rather than legal or governmental actions. It remains possible that other AI companies could take over Anthropic’s contracts.
Anthropic’s response, legal stance and next steps
Anthropic said on Friday evening that it had yet to hear anything directly from the White House or the military “on the status of our negotiations. ” 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. ” Anthropic added, “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 noted it has been in use by the US government and military since 2024 and was the first advanced AI company to have its tools deployed in government agencies doing classified work. Anthropic also responded late on Friday with a statement saying it hadn’t received direct communications from the defense department or the White House and that it was “deeply saddened” by the [rest unclear in the provided context]. Officials and the company have signalled that, despite the forceful federal response, it is still possible the firm and the Pentagon could reach some sort of agreement.
