A day after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the artificial intelligence (AI) company is now in the administration’s ‘good books’, defense officials have stated that the Claude creator remains an active supply chain hazard. The Trump administration appears split over its approach to Anthropic. Pentagon official Emil Michael pushed back against notions of a complete reconciliation, taking to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to reaffirm the Department of Defense’s cautious stance toward the company.
Axios reported that to ease friction, Anthropic elevated co-founder Tom Brown to head high-level diplomatic outreach with White House officials.
ruling that the action violated constitutional standards, “illegal and baseless”, the startup remains locked in an ongoing appeal While a federal judge in August overturned the Pentagon’s prior move blacklisting Anthropic as a supply chain hazard. “Anthropic is still a designated Supply Chain Risk at @DeptofWar and for the Defense Industrial Base. Thank you for your attention to this matter! Michael posted. The assessment from defense leadership directly contradicts optimistic statements made just a day prior by Lutnick during the G20 Innovation Summit. Speaking with Axios, Lutnick stated that the administration trusts Anthropic and its CEO, Dario Amodei, declaring: “They’ve done what we asked. They’re back on the right side. So the answer is: Yes. The conflicting messages appear to highlight friction across federal agencies following months of bitter disagreements regarding military deployment parameters for the company’s AI systems. Leadership tensions involving Amodei had deepened early-year disputes with the administration. The company argued in the lawsuit that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth overstepped his authority with the new designation. All the action against Anthropic followed after the company refused to allow the military to use its AI models for tasks including surveillance or autonomous weapons. Get the latest technology news and updates. Download the TOI App.
Anthropic is currently challenging another separate Pentagon penalty levied under an alternative statute before the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.