The U.S. Department of Defense has officially terminated all use of artificial intelligence (AI) models from Anthropic, ending a high-profile standoff between the Pentagon and one of Silicon Valley’s top AI developers.
The decision, defense officials confirmed to the BBC, follows a February directive by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth labeling Anthropic a national security supply chain risk, a designation usually reserved for foreign adversaries.
Hegseth ordered a complete phase-out of the company’s technology by late August after Anthropic refused Pentagon demands to strip safety guardrails from its flagship Claude models, citing ethical concerns regarding mass surveillance and autonomous weaponry.
Anthropic called the administration’s designation “unprecedented and unlawful” and subsequently filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to overturn the decision.
Despite the August deadline, multiple defense contractors and former military officials revealed that Anthropic’s Claude models remained actively deployed as recently as last week. The AI was heavily utilized for intelligence gathering, analysis, target identification, and operational planning during recent military engagements against Iran.
Industry experts attribute the delay in removal to Anthropic’s deep integration within the Pentagon’s primary data and intelligence infrastructure, known as the Maven Smart System.
“Once these systems become integrated, it can be painful to remove them,” said Lauren Kahn, a senior research analyst at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology and former defense official. “The fact that it took the Pentagon until now to remove all use of Claude… is indicative that these things are not just plug and play.”
As Anthropic was phased out, the Department of Defense expanded its partnerships with alternative AI providers, including Google, xAI, and OpenAI, with OpenAI’s tools seeing accelerated adoption across several military branches.
The complete severance of defense ties comes amid mixed signals from the White House over the administration’s relationship with the AI firm.
Anthropic CEO Officer Dario Amodei met with President Donald Trump twice at the White House last week. Following the meetings, Trump publicly praised Amodei as “fantastic,” while Amodei noted that discussions regarding AI safety and nation-state risks remain ongoing with the administration.
