President Donald Trump has ordered all federal agencies to immediately stop using Anthropic's artificial intelligence model "Claude," citing the company's refusal to cooperate with the Department of Defense (War Department) on military operations.
"We will not allow a radical left 'woke' company to dictate how our great military should fight and win wars," Trump posted on his social network Truth Social on the 27th (local time). "The left-wing fanatics made a fatal mistake by trying to coercively force the War Department to follow their terms of service instead of the Constitution," Trump said. "Their selfishness has endangered the lives of the American people and jeopardized our military and national security."
Trump directed all federal government agencies to immediately cease using Anthropic technology, declaring "We don't need it, we don't want it, and we will never do business with them again." However, he indicated a six-month phase-out period, warning that "Anthropic would be wise to come to its senses and cooperate during this time." He added, "Otherwise, I will use the full authority of the presidency to make them comply, and there will be serious civil and criminal consequences."
Claude is currently the only AI approved for use in U.S. military classified systems. The Department of Defense has demanded unrestricted use of Claude for all lawful purposes. Anthropic has pushed back, insisting its models should not be used for mass surveillance of American citizens or fully autonomous weapons.
Despite Trump's threats, some AI experts predict the Department of Defense will find it difficult to completely sever ties with Anthropic. As the only AI model developer approved for military classified systems, replacing Anthropic with another provider in a short timeframe would be challenging.
Anthropic issued a statement the same day pushing back against the Department of Defense's designation of the company as a "supply chain risk entity," saying it "will challenge this in court." The designation would prohibit all contractors and suppliers doing business with the Department of Defense from using Claude in military collaboration work. "This has historically been applied to adversarial nations and has never been publicly applied to an American company," Anthropic said. "This is not only legally unjustified but sets a dangerous precedent for all American companies negotiating with the government."