Artificial intelligence in the U.S. military The
United States Department of Defense began developing
lethal autonomous weapons as early as the
Reagan administration. The Department of Defense established a policy on the use of artificial intelligence in 2012,
Directive 3000.09. Efforts to utilize artificial intelligence intensified under the term of secretary
Ash Carter. The Department of Defense's use of artificial intelligence for
Project Maven prompted concerns within
Google in 2018, leading to protests and mass resignations.
Anthropic in the second Trump administration In
Donald Trump's
second presidency, Anthropic publicly disagreed with the administration's policies and initiatives. In January 2025, Anthropic chief executive
Dario Amodei criticized the artificial intelligence investment project
Stargate as "chaotic" and opposed Trump's rescission of president
Joe Biden's
Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence, but noted that Anthropic had held discussions with Trump officials about artificial intelligence policy. Amid discussions over the
One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Anthropic privately lobbied for
Congress to vote against a bill preventing states from regulating artificial intelligence and expressed opposition to an artificial intelligence agreement signed among
Gulf states in Trump's
visit to the Middle East in May. According to
Semafor, Trump officials chastised Anthropic's hiring of several officials involved in the
Biden administration, including Elizabeth Kelly, the former director of the
Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute;
Tarun Chhabra, the coordinator for technology and national security in the
National Security Council; and Ben Buchanan, Biden's advisor for artificial intelligence. The following month, Amodei wrote an op-ed in
The New York Times describing the artificial intelligence regulation bill, then tied to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, as "far too blunt an instrument". Prior to the dispute, the Trump administration had integrated Anthropic's services. By November 2024, Anthropic had already partnered with
Palantir and
Amazon Web Services, companies that offered services with
FedRAMP authorization. In the Biden administration, Anthropic had reached an agreement with the
AI Safety Institute and had participated in a nuclear information safety evaluation. The
Department of Homeland Security authorized its workers to use commercial artificial intelligence systems, including Anthropic's
Claude, until May 2025. Through its interoperability with Palantir, a company heavily involved in data analysis and analytics at the Department of Defense, Anthropic's technology achieved relatively widespread usage in the U.S. military. The following month, Anthropic announced that it would allow national security customers to use Claude Gov. Anthropic's orthogonal usage policy to the surveillance systems implemented at the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the
Secret Service, and
Immigration and Customs Enforcement led to a conflict between Anthropic and the Trump administration by September. That month, Amodei criticized Trump's approach to export restrictions on semiconductors. Anthropic's strategy has mirrored Amodei's views towards Trump; in a
Facebook post ahead of the
2024 presidential election, Amodei urged his associates to vote for vice president
Kamala Harris over Trump, describing him as a "feudal warlord". As the Trump administration
targeted law firms, Amodei cut ties with the firms
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and
Latham & Watkins, which reached agreements with the Trump administration to avoid punishment.
David Sacks, Trump's advisor for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, said on
All-In (2020–present) that Anthropic was among several "AI
doomers" that support regulation he saw as overly restrictive. According to
The Wall Street Journal, officials close to Sacks examined whether Anthropic's Claude was a "
woke AI"; in July, Trump signed an executive order "
Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government". Sacks viewed Amodei's decision to attend the
World Economic Forum over Trump's
second inauguration; his hiring of Biden officials; and Anthropic's association with the philanthropic initiative
Open Philanthropy as evidence that Anthropic would not support Trump's agenda. That month, Amodei published a blog post rebuffing "inaccurate claims" from the Trump administration on Anthropic's policies, intensifying the dispute. Amodei's statement included views explicitly espoused by vice president
JD Vance. In December, Amodei met with Trump officials and several senators in an effort to improve Anthropic's relationship with the Trump administration. ==Dispute==