Trump orders federal agencies to stop using Anthropic technology

Investing.com -- President Trump on Friday directed all federal agencies to immediately cease using Anthropic’s technology, following the AI company’s refusal to remove restrictions on military use of its products.

The President announced a six-month phase-out period for agencies currently using Anthropic’s technology, including the Department of War. Trump warned the company to cooperate during the transition or face civil and criminal consequences.

The directive comes as Anthropic and the Pentagon remain deadlocked over safeguards for artificial intelligence. Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael said Friday on Bloomberg Television that defense officials remain willing to continue negotiations with Anthropic, despite what he called the company’s "unpredictable" behavior.

"So long as they’re in good faith, we’re always open to talks," Michael said. "Up until that deadline, I’m open to more talks and I told them so."

Anthropic rejected the Pentagon’s latest offer on Thursday to end the dispute. The company said new contract language from defense officials failed to satisfy its desire for curbs on military use of its AI tools.

Anthropic has insisted on two specific restrictions: It doesn’t want its AI tools used for surveillance of US citizens or for autonomous lethal strikes without a human in the loop.

The stance has put Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei in a confrontation with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has vowed to root out "woke" practices at the agency.

Pentagon officials have resisted the company’s demands and want to run its Claude software, one of the only AI tools cleared for classified cloud work, within the bounds of the law but without restrictions from Anthropic.

On Thursday, Amodei said the company was standing its ground. "These threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request," he said in a statement.

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