The risk designation follows a months-long dispute over the company’s insistence on safeguards that the US Defence Department said went too far.
The “supply-chain risk” label, effective immediately, bars government contractors from using Anthropic’s technology in their work for the US military. The full extent of the designation was not immediately clear.
The action comes as the department is relying on Anthropic’s technology, called Claude, to provide support for military operations, including in Iran, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Anthropic and the US Defence Department, which the Trump administration calls the Department of War, did not immediately return requests for comment.
The action represented an extraordinary rebuke by the United States against an American tech company that was earlier than its rivals to work with the Pentagon.
Claude likely is being used to analyse intelligence and assist with operational planning.
Palantir’s Maven Smart Systems – a software platform that supplies militaries with intelligence analysis and weapons targeting – uses multiple prompts and workflows that were built using Anthropic’s Claude code, Reuters earlier reported.
Anthropic was the most aggressive of its rivals in courting US national-security officials. But the company and the Pentagon have been at odds for months over how the military can use its technology on the battlefield. This conflict erupted into public view earlier this year.
Anthropic has refused to back down on bans for its Claude AI to power autonomous weapons and mass US surveillance. The Pentagon has pushed back, saying it should be able to use this technology as needed, so long as they comply with US law.
The “supply-chain risk” label now gives Anthropic a status that Washington until now had typically been used for foreign adversaries. Similar US action was taken to remove Chinese tech giant Huawei from the Pentagon’s supply chains. (Reuters)
Edited by Cecil Wong
