Pentagon says it is labeling Anthropic a supply chain risk 'effective immediately'

Pentagon says it is labeling Anthropic a supply chain risk 'effective immediately' The Trump administration is following through with its threat to designate artificial intelligence company Anthropic as a supply chain risk in an unprecedented move that could force other government contractors to stop using the AI chatbot Claude By MATT O'BRIEN Associated Press and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN Associated Press March 5, 2026, 6:43 PM The Trump administration is following through with its threat to designate artificial intelligence company Anthropic as a supply chain risk in an unprecedented move that could force other government contractors to stop using the AI chatbot Claude. The Pentagon said in a statement Thursday that it has “officially informed Anthropic leadership the company and its products are deemed a supply chain risk, effective immediately.” The decision appeared to shut down the opportunity for further negotiation with Anthropic, nearly a week after President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused the company of endangering national security. Trump and Hegseth announced a series of threatened punishments last Friday, on the eve of the Iran war , after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to back down over concerns the company’s products could be used for mass surveillance of Americans or autonomous weapons. The San Francisco-based company didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. It has previously vowed to sue if the Pentagon pursued what the company described as a “legally unsound” action “never before publicly applied to an American company.” The Pentagon statement said "this has been about one fundamental principle: the military being able to use technology for all lawful purposes. The military will not allow a vendor to insert itself into the chain of command by restricting the lawful use of a critical capability and put our warfighters at risk.“ Some military contractors were already cutting ties with Anthropic, a rising sta...