US President Donald Trump lashed out at Anthropic on Friday night — ordering a six-month phase-out of its technology and declaring the AI startup a ‘supply risk’. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth went a step further to claim that the company “wanted to seize veto power over the operational decisions of the United States military”. The assertions came even as OpenAI reached an agreement with the Department of war to deploy its models within a ‘classified network’. Debate has raged for most of this week after the company led by Dario Amodei refused to let the Pentagon freely use its AI models.

“This week, Anthropic delivered a master class in arrogance and betrayal as well as a textbook case of how not to do business with the United States Government or the Pentagon. Our position has never wavered and will never waver: the Department of War must have full, unrestricted access to Anthropic’s models for every lawful purpose in defense of the Republic,” Hegseth insisted on Friday night.

He accused Anthropic and its CEO of “choosing duplicity” while being “cloaked in the sanctimonious rhetoric of effective altruism”. Hegseth claimed that the AI company had tried to strong-arm the US military and accused Anthropic of trying to “seize veto power over the operational decisions of the United States military”.

The Trump administration has repeatedly claimed that Anthropic has no choice but to comply with its demand — labelling the pushback from Amodei “fundamentally incompatible with American principles”. The AI company has repeatedly argued for bans on mass US surveillance ‌and fully autonomous weapons. The Pentagon has said it engaged in no such conduct while adding that that US law — and not a private company — would determine how best to defend the country.

“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!” a furious Trump wrote on Truth Social.

He dubbed Anthropic a “radical left, woke company” as he outlined a six-month phase-out period for its use within government departments. Hegseth also tagged the company a “supply-chain risk to national security” in his lengthy X post. All contractors, suppliers and partners who conduct business with the US Military have been ‘banned’ from conducting commercial activity with Anthropic.

Anthropic out, OpenAI in

The clash between Anthropic and the Trump government has also created a window of opportunity for rival AI companies — such as OpenAI and Elon Musk-led xAI. Recent reports indicate that the Pentagon has already reached a deal with Musk to allow military use of its Grok model in classified systems.

Sam Altman also announced a similar agreement with the Department of War on Friday night — reiterating the same red lines as Anthropic. He added in a lengthy social media post that the Trump administration had agreed with these principles.

“Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network. In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome…We are asking the DoW to offer these same terms to all AI companies, which in our opinion we think everyone should be willing to accept,” Altman said via X.

“Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems. The DoW agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement,” he added.