Pentagon freezes out Anthropic as it signs deals with AI rivals
Notably absent from the announcement is the AI frontier lab Anthropic, which the Department of Defense designated a supply-chain risk to U.S. national security. The Department of Defense announced on Friday that it had struck deals with seven leading artificial intelligence companies—SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, Reflection, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services—to deploy their systems within classified Pentagon networks. These agreements aim for ‘lawful operational use’ and are intended to strengthen the U.S. military’s ability to maintain decision superiority across all domains of warfare. The Pentagon stated that these partnerships accelerate the transformation toward establishing the United States military as an AI-first force. Systems will be rolled out within Impact Level 6 and Impact Level 7 network environments, where they are intended to streamline data synthesis, elevate situational understanding, and augment decision-making in complex operational environments. Notably absent from the announcement is Anthropic, which the Department of Defense designated a supply-chain risk in March due to its refusal to grant unrestricted access to its Claude models for use in fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance. This was the first time the Pentagon had taken such an action against an American firm. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued an order prohibiting any contractor, supplier, or partner from engaging in commercial activity with Anthropic. Anthropic subsequently sued the Trump administration in two separate lawsuits, seeking to overturn the order. Recent signs of rapprochement emerged when President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and other senior officials met with Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, at the White House on April 17. Following the meeting, Trump indicated a deal with Anthropic was possible, stating, ‘They’re very smart, and I think they can be of great use. I like smart people.’
Source: Military Times