Trump Orders Federal Agencies to Stop Using Anthropic Amid Dispute

US President Donald Trump has issued a directive for all federal agencies to immediately cease work with artificial intelligence lab Anthropic. The decision comes after weeks of tension between the Pentagon and Anthropic over concerns about the military’s use of AI in combat situations.

The Pentagon had previously expressed concerns that Anthropic’s technology, known as Claude, could be used for mass surveillance or in fully autonomous weapons. Anthropic had sought narrow assurances from the Pentagon to address these concerns. However, after months of private talks, the company stated that new contract language would allow safeguards to be disregarded at will.

In a statement on Truth Social, Trump said he is directing every federal agency to stop using Anthropic’s technology and gave the Department of Defense a six-month period to phase out the technology already embedded in military platforms. The president also warned that further action would be taken if Anthropic did not cooperate with the phaseout period.

The company has a $200m contract with the Pentagon, which is set to expire soon. Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, had previously stated that his company “cannot in good conscience accede” to the Defense Department’s demands. The conflict between the two parties has been ongoing since at least 2018, when employees at Alphabet’s Google protested the Pentagon’s use of their AI technology.

The US Senate has also weighed in on the issue, with Senator Mark Warner criticizing Trump’s directive as “inflammatory rhetoric.” The incident highlights the growing tensions between the government and private companies over the use of AI in national security.

Source: Al Jazeera