Trump Orders Federal Agencies to Cut Ties with Anthropic Over Military AI Dispute

Summary

President Donald Trump has ordered all U.S. federal agencies to immediately cease using Anthropic's AI technology, with a six-month phase-out period for agencies like the Department of Defense. The directive comes just hours before a Pentagon deadline for Anthropic to accept contract terms that the AI company claims would allow their safeguards against autonomous weapons and mass surveillance to be "disregarded at will." Trump threatened "major civil and criminal consequences" if Anthropic does not cooperate during the transition period.

The conflict centers on Anthropic's refusal to remove two key demands from their government contract: prohibiting the use of their Claude AI system for fully autonomous weapons systems where AI makes final battlefield targeting decisions without human oversight, and preventing mass domestic surveillance applications. Anthropic maintains that the Pentagon's latest contract language fails to provide meaningful commitments on these issues, despite public statements to the contrary from defense officials.

The Pentagon has threatened to terminate its partnership with Anthropic and designate the company as a "supply chain risk"—a label typically reserved for foreign adversaries—if the company does not comply by the deadline. Top members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have sent a private letter urging both parties to extend negotiations and work with Congress to find a legislative solution. The standoff represents an unprecedented clash between a sitting president and a leading American AI company over the ethical boundaries of military artificial intelligence applications.

• Senate Armed Services Committee members are urging both parties to extend negotiations and seek a legislative solution to the impasse