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President Donald Trump on Friday ordered all federal agencies to immediately stop using technology made by artificial intelligence company Anthropic, escalating a standoff between the US government and the startup over the military's use of its AI models.
The directive came after Anthropic refused to meet a Pentagon deadline to agree to unconditional military use of its Claude AI models, a dispute that has rippled across the technology sector and drawn rare public solidarity from rival companies.
"I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic's technology. We don't need it, we don't want it, and will not do business with them again!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The confrontation centers on where to draw the line between national security imperatives and ethical constraints on powerful AI systems. Anthropic has insisted its technology must not be used for mass surveillance of US citizens or deployed in fully autonomous weapons systems. The Pentagon has countered that it operates within the law and that contracted suppliers cannot dictate how their products are used.
The Department of Defense had given Anthropic until 5:01 pm Eastern Time on Friday to comply with its demands or face compulsion under the Defense Production Act, a Cold War-era statute that grants the federal government broad authority to direct private industry toward national security objectives. The law was last invoked during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Pentagon also threatened to designate Anthropic a supply chain risk, a label typically reserved for companies from adversary nations, which could severely damage the firm's ability to work with the government and harm its wider commercial reputation.
Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump's order.
Trump said agencies such as the Department of Defense, which he referred to as the "Department of War," would be given a six-month phase-out period for Anthropic products currently in use. He warned the company to cooperate during the transition.
"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," he wrote.
The dispute has prompted an unusual show of unity across an industry more accustomed to fierce competition. Hundreds of employees from Google DeepMind and OpenAI signed an open letter titled "We Will Not Be Divided," urging their companies to back Anthropic's position.
"They're trying to divide each company with fear that the other will give in. That strategy only works if none of us know where the others stand," the letter said, calling on industry leaders to refuse the Pentagon's demands for permission to use AI models "for domestic mass surveillance and autonomously killing people without human oversight."
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman told staff on Thursday that he was seeking his own agreement with the Pentagon that would include red lines similar to Anthropic's and that he hoped to help broker a resolution. "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," Altman wrote in a staff memo, according to US media reports.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said Thursday that the government's pressure campaign had not shaken the company's resolve. "These threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request," Amodei said.
Industry representatives in Washington have warned that the confrontation risks damaging the broader AI sector and have pushed for a negotiated resolution. Daniel Castro, vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington-based technology policy think tank, said the dispute exposed the absence of clear rules governing military AI procurement.
"Decisions about military AI cannot be settled through ad hoc standoffs between the Pentagon and individual firms," Castro said. "If certain AI capabilities are deemed essential for national defense, those expectations should be debated openly and written into law."
The standoff marks one of the most significant clashes between the US government and the technology industry since the post-September 11 surveillance debates, raising fundamental questions about who sets the boundaries for how AI is used in warfare and domestic security.
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