The Pentagon has formally notified Anthropic that the company and its state-of-the-art AI products have been designated a supply-chain risk, US media reported Thursday, escalating a bitter dispute over AI safeguards.It is the first time a US company has received such a designation, which until now was reserved for firms from adversary countries, such as China's Huawei.
The formal designation will require defense vendors and contractors to certify that they do not use Anthropic's Claude models in their work with the Pentagon, which could prove to have wider consequences for the company.
"DOW officially informed Anthropic leadership the company and its products are deemed a supply chain risk, effective immediately," a senior defense official told Bloomberg News and CNBC, using the acronym for the Department of War -- the name the White House now uses for the Department of Defense.
The firm has vowed to challenge the designation in court, in what has become a rare public showdown between a major tech company and the US government.
The dispute erupted after Anthropic infuriated Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth by insisting its technology should not be used for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons systems.
Washington hit back, saying the Pentagon operates within the law and that contracted suppliers cannot dictate terms on how their products are used.
Neither Anthropic nor the Department of War responded to AFP requests for comment.
Reports earlier this week said the two sides had entered negotiations to resolve the row, in talks brokered by Anthropic's investors, which include tech heavyweights Amazon, Google and Nvidia.
The conflict took a turn Wednesday when The Information reported that Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had told staff the actions against the company were politically motivated.
"The real reasons" the Trump administration "do not like us is that we haven't donated to Trump (while OpenAI/Greg have donated a lot)," Amodei said, referring to Greg Brockman, the president of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, who has donated $25 million to Trump.
According to multiple US media reports, the military used Anthropic's Claude AI model in its weekend attack on Iran and is still using it -- despite a government-wide ban on the technology ordered last week.
Trump directed federal agencies via social media to immediately cease all use of Anthropic's technology, with a six-month phaseout period for the Department of Defense and other agencies.
