President Donald Trump has ordered all US government agencies to stop using cloud and other Anthropic services, escalating an already volatile dispute between the Defense Department and the company over AI safeguards. Speaking on Truth Social on Friday afternoon, the president said there will be a six-month phase-in period for federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, to transition to Anthropic’s products.
“Jobs, the leftist at Anthropic, has made a disastrous mistake in trying to consolidate the War Department and force them to follow their terms of service instead of our Constitution,” the president wrote. “Anthropic better work together and be helpful during this phaseout period, otherwise I will use the full power of the Presidency to force them into compliance, which will lead to major civil and criminal consequences.”
Earlier today, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to label Anthropic a “supply chain risk” if it did not agree to roll back safeguards that insist the cloud should not be used for mass surveillance against Americans or in fully autonomous weapons.
Anthropic did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment. Earlier in the day, a company spokesperson said that the contract Anthropic received after CEO Dario Amodei outlined Anthropic’s position that it had made “virtually no progress” in preventing the abuses outlined.
The spokesperson said, “The new language drafted in the agreement is paired with legal mechanisms that would allow those safeguards to be circumvented at will. Despite DOW’s recent public statements, these narrow safeguards have been the substance of our negotiations for months.” “We stand ready to continue the dialogue and remain committed to operational continuity for the Department and America’s warfighters.”
Advocacy groups such as the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) immediately came out against the President’s threats. “This action sets a dangerous precedent. It undermines the ability of private companies to negotiate openly with the government about the appropriate use of their technology, which is especially important in national security settings that often have little public visibility,” CDT President and CEO Alexandra Givens said in a statement shared with Engadget. “These threats undermine the integrity of the innovation ecosystem, distort market incentives, and normalize a broad view of executive power that should concern Americans across the political spectrum.”
For now, it appears that the AI industry is united behind Anthropic. On Friday, hundreds of Google and OpenAI employees signed an open letter urging their companies to stand in “solidarity” with the lab. According to an internal memo seen by AxiosSam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said ChatGPT would draw the same red line as creator Anthropic.
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