© Steven Abraham (Unsplash)
Anthropic has chosen to say no to the Pentagon. Following an unprecedented showdown between an AI startup and the Trump administration, Claude will no longer be used by the armed forces. To replace Claude, the Ministry of Defense negotiated an agreement with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT.
Anthropic says no to the U.S. military. The startup behind Claude decided to ban the Pentagon from using its generative AI for military purposes. The situation escalated when the army used a military version of Claude integrated into a drone system during the raid on Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.
In a statement, Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, explains that "in good conscience," he cannot provide "a product that puts American military and civilians in danger." He believes that using AI "for domestic mass surveillance is incompatible with democratic values."
Prior to Anthropic's decision, Defense Minister Pete Hegseth had summoned Dario Amodei to exert pressure. The minister had ordered the entrepreneur to fully open access to Claude for the armed forces, lifting default usage restrictions. To justify his refusal, Dario Amodei points out that the most advanced AI systems are not yet reliable enough to entrust with the control of lethal weapons. In "a limited number of cases, we believe that AI can harm democratic values rather than defend them," argues the CEO of Anthropic.
Also read: The IA Claude can end "harmful or abusive conversations," promises Anthropic
An "EXTREME LEFT WOKE" COMPANY
In response, Donald Trump ordered his entire administration to "immediately cease all use" of Claude. The president explains having asked « ALL federal agencies of the United States government to IMMEDIATELY cease any use of Anthropic's technology ». Considering that Anthropic is a « Woke EXTREME LEFT COMPANY » that is « run by people who have no idea what the real world is like », Trump adds that he does not want nor need the company's technology. Their « egoism puts American lives, our troops, and national security at risk », estimated the Republican in a post on Truth Social. On the other hand, Pete Hegseth accused Anthropic of « arrogance and betrayal », adding that « American soldiers will never be held hostage by the ideological whims of tech giants ».
This week, Anthropic delivered a master class in arrogance and betrayal as well as a textbook case of how not to do business with the United States Government or the Pentagon.
Our position has never wavered and will never waver: the Department of War must have full, unrestricted…
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) February 27, 2026
Despite the public refusal by Anthropic, the U.S. Army used Claude in recent strikes against Iran, revealed the Wall Street Journal and Axios. The U.S. military used these tools to gather intelligence, choose its targets more easily, and simulate the course of battles on the ground. The discontinuation of Anthropic technologies may take several months. Contrary to what Donald Trump implies, it is not possible for the military to stop using Claude overnight. As explained by the U.S. Defense Minister, Anthropic will continue to provide its AI services « for a period not exceeding six months to allow a smooth transition to a more capable and patriotic service ».
Anthropic's decision was heartily praised by Silicon Valley employees. In an open letter, 400 employees from leading companies, including Google and OpenAI, expressed joy over the stance taken by Anthropic. Unions from Amazon, Microsoft, and Google called on their management to take inspiration from the startup and to « refuse the Pentagon's requirements ».
Also read: Anthropic reveals Claude Sonnet 4.6, its new reference AI
ChatGPT helping the U.S. military
It was at this point that OpenAI entered the equation. Shortly after Anthropic's categorical refusal to open Claude to the military, the startup behind ChatGPT reached an agreement with the Pentagon. Despite protests from its employees, the AI giant negotiated an agreement under certain « guarantees », explains Sam Altman in a statement published on X.
Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network.
In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome.
AI safety and wide distribution of…
— Sam Altman (@sama) February 28, 2026
The entrepreneur, and fervent defender of AI, indicates that the Pentagon has accepted two of OpenAI's « most important security principles », namely « the prohibition of mass national surveillance and human responsibility in the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems ». As described, OpenAI's principles are close to those of Anthropic. The CEO of OpenAI adds that his teams will also implement « technical safeguards to ensure our models behave as they should ». In a blog post on his website, OpenAI highlights « that other AI labs have reduced, or even eliminated, their safeguards and mainly relied on usage policies as the primary defense in the context of national security deployments », half-heartedly criticizing his rival Anthropic. The king of AI claims to be convinced that his approach, mostly based on technical guarantees, « offers better protection against abusive uses ».
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Download
- Google Play Store
- 4K Video Downloader Plus
- VLC Media Player
- Adobe Reader
- uTorrent
- WinRAR
- Xender
- Google Chrome
- CCleaner
- Mozilla Firefox
- Avast Free
- ChatGPT
- Microsoft 365
- Opera One
- Avast One
