The US government has ordered all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic AI technologies, citing ethical concerns and military applications.
The Biden administration has mandated that all federal agencies discontinue their use of technologies from the AI startup Anthropic within the next six months. This decision follows President Biden's strong stance against the company's ethical policies that restrict the use of their AI models, particularly in military applications.
“We don’t need this, we don’t want it, and we will no longer do business with them!” the President declared.
In July 2025, the US Department of Defense had awarded contracts totaling up to $200 million to Anthropic alongside other tech giants like Google, OpenAI, and xAI for the development of AI-driven security solutions. However, tensions arose over Anthropic's strict ethical guidelines, which prohibit the use of their Claude AI model for mass surveillance and autonomous lethal operations.
Reports from January 2026 indicated that there were concerns about the Pentagon's continued partnership with Anthropic, especially amid the integration of the Grok chatbot into military networks. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth voiced that the department would not engage with models that do not permit warfare-related applications.
In a significant operational move, the US Army employed the Claude model in an attempt to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in February 2026, further complicating relations. Following this, Secretary Hegseth described Anthropic as a “risk to the supply chain,” reinforcing the administration's resolve to part ways with the company.
CEO Dario Amodei expressed that Anthropic would rather avoid collaboration with the military than compromise on its principles, which aim to safeguard democratic values. He highlighted concerns regarding the potential misuse of their technologies for domestic surveillance and autonomous weaponry.
“The leftists at Anthropic made a catastrophic mistake trying to twist the arms of the military and force it to comply with their terms instead of our Constitution,” Trump stated, criticizing the startup's leadership.
He characterized Anthropic as chaotic and out of touch with reality. Meanwhile, the Pentagon continues to utilize AI technologies from OpenAI, Google, and xAI for non-classified operations, with these companies agreeing to ease some restrictions that typically apply to their public users. Additionally, SpaceX's recent merger with xAI aims to develop voice-controlled autonomous drones for military applications.
