The U.S. Department of Defense formally designated AI firm Anthropic a supply-chain risk on March 5, the first such label for an American company after failed talks over unrestricted military access to its Claude model, which Anthropic restricts against mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. CEO Dario Amodei called it "legally unsound" and pledged a court challenge, stressing minimal customer impact as DoD continues Claude use in Iran operations.
President Donald Trump said in a March 5 Politico interview he "fired Anthropic like dogs" for refusing Pentagon demands, as the DoD issued the supply-chain risk label barring contractors from using Claude.
Over two dozen former officials including ex-CIA Director Michael Hayden and academics like Lawrence Lessig denounced the Pentagon's label on Anthropic as an abuse of authority in a March 5 letter to Congress, warning of risks to U.S. AI innovation and urging policies on surveillance and lethal weapons.