Trump bans U.S. agencies from using Anthropic technology

U.S. President Donald Trump has barred all federal agencies from using artificial intelligence technologies developed by Anthropic.

The AI developer became embroiled in a conflict with the White House after refusing to grant the U.S. military full access to its tools. Anthropic maintains that neural networks should not be used to surveil Americans or operate as autonomous weapons.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth subsequently said Anthropic posed a supply chain risk and warned that other corporations could be prohibited from doing business with the company. In effect, Anthropic was deemed unreliable, marking the first such designation for a U.S. firm. The company plans to challenge the decision in court.

Trump said Anthropic’s tools will be phased out across government agencies over the next six months. However, since 2024, U.S. military units have been using Anthropic technology to process classified documents.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman later sent an internal memo to employees stating he holds similar views on AI and government cooperation. The company intends to refuse the use of its models for unlawful purposes or domestic surveillance of citizens.

Altman also confirmed that OpenAI has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense to deploy its models within classified cloud networks.