Al Root
Artificial-intelligence start-up Anthropic doesn't appear to be going away quietly in its battle with the Trump administration over the future of autonomous AI-trained weapons.
It provided a forceful response to the War Department's labeling of the company a "supply chain risk." That threatens how Anthropic and other defense contractors conduct business.
On Friday, President Trump directed all federal agencies to phase out the use of technology developed by Anthropic, including its popular Claude models.
"THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL NEVER ALLOW A RADICAL LEFT, WOKE COMPANY TO DICTATE HOW OUR GREAT MILITARY FIGHTS AND WINS WARS," said the president in a Friday post on Truth Social.
Anthropic and the Trump administration had been going back and forth on limits to the use of AI technology. Anthropic didn't want its systems used in mass surveillance or in autonomous weapons that would make kill or do-not-kill decisions without any human intervention.
"In conjunction with the President's directive for the Federal Government to cease all use of Anthropic's technology, I am directing the Department of War to designate Anthropic a Supply-Chain Risk to National Security," added War Secretary Pete Hegseth in a Friday tweet.
That designation essentially bars Anthropic from doing business with the government, as well as stopping other defense contractors from using Anthropic technology.
"We have tried in good faith to reach an agreement with the Department of War, making clear that we support all lawful uses of AI for national security aside from the two narrow exceptions," reads part of a lengthy Friday statement from Anthropic.
"We believe this [supply chain] designation would both be legally unsound and set a dangerous precedent for any American company that negotiates with the government," added the company. "No amount of intimidation or punishment from the Department of War will change our position on mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. We will challenge any supply chain risk designation in court."
The White House and Defense Department didn't respond to a request for comment about Anthropic's response.
Anthropic added that the supply chain risk designation would only prevent contractors from using its products in government business.
That distinction might not matter. " Nvidia, Amazon, [and Google parent Alphabet], will have to divest from Anthropic if Hegseth gets his way. This is simply attempted corporate murder," wrote former Trump advisor Dean Ball on X. "I could not possibly recommend investing in American AI to any investor; I could not possibly recommend starting an AI company in the United States."
Ball fears that the Trump administration has essentially made itself the strictest, de facto regulator of AI technology on the planet, adding in another tweet that he hopes for "de-escalation."
"This is, in essence, a scarlet letter designation for Anthropic that puts this AI stalwart in the same category as the Chinese tech player Huawei," wrote Wedbush analyst Dan Ives on Sunday, adding the battle could have a ripple effect on the tech sector for months.
On Friday evening, OpenAI announced it will essentially take Anthropic's defense contract. Ives called that "surprising," pointing out that Anthropic and its Claude tools remain a major player in the AI revolution. The Anthropic-Trump battle "needs to be resolved quickly for the tech sector and ongoing enterprise deployments."
What happens next is anyone's guess. Investors in defense contractors, drone makers, and Palantir Technologies will be paying attention to how things play out.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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March 01, 2026 13:02 ET (18:02 GMT)
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