President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Friday afternoon to order federal agencies to stop using Anthropic products after the Artificial Intelligence company refused to work with the Pentagon this week.
“THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL NEVER ALLOW A RADICAL LEFT, WOKE COMPANY TO DICTATE HOW OUR GREAT MILITARY FIGHTS AND WINS WARS! That decision belongs to YOUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, and the tremendous leaders I appoint to run our Military,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
“The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution. Their selfishness is putting AMERICAN LIVES at risk, our Troops in danger, and our National Security in JEOPARDY,” he continued.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Tuesday to negotiate how the Pentagon would be allowed to use the company’s AI software, according to CNBC. Amodei wanted assurances that its technology would not be used to conduct mass domestic surveillance or to use fully autonomous weapons.
“Partially autonomous weapons, like those used today in Ukraine, are vital to the defense of democracy. Even fully autonomous weapons (those that take humans out of the loop entirely and automate selecting and engaging targets) may prove critical for our national defense. But today, frontier AI systems are simply not reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons. We will not knowingly provide a product that puts America’s warfighters and civilians at risk,” Amodei said in a statement.
On Thursday, Sean Parnell, the chief spokesman for the Pentagon, tweeted there was “no interest” in using AI to do either, but said that it would “not let ANY company dictate the terms regarding how we make operational decisions.” Parnell also said the company had a 5:01 PM deadline to decide to accept the Pentagon’s terms or be deemed “a supply chain risk.”
The Department of War has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans (which is illegal) nor do we want to use AI to develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement. This narrative is fake and being peddled by leftists in the media.… https://t.co/3pjWZ66aXz
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellASW) February 26, 2026
A little over an hour before the deadline, Trump declared the government would not work with Anthropic at all.
“Therefore, 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! There will be a Six Month phase out period for Agencies like the Department of War who are using Anthropic’s products, at various levels. Anthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow,” Trump wrote.
“WE will decide the fate of our Country — NOT some out-of-control, Radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he added.
Anthropic competitor OpenAI said it had the same restrictions as Anthropic, according to NPR. However, this week, Elon Musk of xAI, said that his company would allow both mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons controlled by its program, Grok, according to The New York Times.
Image via Reuters