edition.cnn.com - Anthropic pentagon deadline
npr.org - Trump anthropic pentagon openai AI weapons ban

"The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution," said Trump in his post. "Therefore, I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic's technology. We don't need it, we don't want it, and will not do business with them again!"

He said there would be a six month phaseout of Anthropic's products.

The announcement came about an hour before a deadline set by the Pentagon, which had called on Anthropic to back down.

And it happened as at least one other AI firm said it had similar concerns about the military uses of AI. Earlier in the day, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says he shares the "red lines" set by rival Anthropic restricting how the military uses AI models, amid Anthropic's escalating feud with the Pentagon.

Trump made the announcement in a Truth Social post on Friday, saying that agencies will have six months to phase out use of Anthropic’s products.

Anthropic’s Claude was the first AI model to work on the military’s classified networks. The company struck a contract worth up to $200 million with the Pentagon last summer. Other major AI companies like OpenAI have only struck deals with the Pentagon on their unclassified networks.

If OpenAI also sticks to its guns, that would leave Musk's Xai as the only American substitute (though the Chinese would be happy to help :-)

Jeff