It’s official: The Pentagon has labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk

The Department of Defense (DOD) has officially notified Anthropic leadership that the company and its products are designated as a supply chain risk. This unprecedented move follows weeks of conflict, as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to allow the military to use its AI systems for mass surveillance of Americans or for fully autonomous weapons without human oversight in targeting or firing decisions. The designation, typically reserved for foreign adversaries, requires any entity working with the Pentagon to certify they do not use Anthropic’s models. This threatens to disrupt Anthropic, which has been the only frontier AI lab with classified-ready systems, as the U.S. military currently relies on its Claude AI in operations like the Iran campaign via Palantir’s Maven Smart System. Critics, including a former Trump White House AI advisor, have condemned the move as "thuggish" tribalism. Employees from OpenAI and Google urged the DOD to withdraw the designation, advocating against using AI for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous killing without human oversight. Amodei reportedly called the DOD's actions "retaliatory and punitive," suggesting his refusal to praise or donate to President Trump contributed to the dispute, contrasting with OpenAI President Greg Brockman's significant support for Trump.

(Source：TechCrunch)