In a message on Truth Social, President Trump instructed federal agencies to stop utilizing all Anthropic products following the company’s public clash with the Department of Defense. The president permitted a six-month phase-out duration for departments currently employing the products, but stressed that Anthropic was no longer to be considered a federal contractor.

“We don’t require it, we don’t desire it, and will not engage in business with them again,” the president stated in the message.

Interestingly, the president’s message did not include any intentions to classify Anthropic as a supply chain threat, which had previously been noted as a potential outcome. Nevertheless, a later tweet from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth fulfilled that implication.

“As part of the President’s order for the Federal Government to halt all utilization of Anthropic’s technology, I am instructing the Department of War to classify Anthropic as a Supply-Chain Risk to National Security,” Secretary Hegseth stated. “Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner involved with the United States military may engage in any commercial interactions with Anthropic.”

The conflict at the Pentagon revolved around Anthropic’s unwillingness to permit its AI models to be utilized for either extensive domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weaponry, which Secretary Hegseth deemed excessively limiting.

CEO Dario Amodei reaffirmed his position in a public message on Thursday, rejecting any concessions on the two key issues.

“Our strong preference remains to assist the Department and our servicemen and women — with our two requested safeguards intact,” Amodei expressed at that time. “If the Department opts to discontinue using Anthropic, we will strive to facilitate a seamless transition to another provider, ensuring there is no disruption to ongoing military planning, operations, or other essential missions.”

OpenAI reportedly expressed its backing for Anthropic’s choice. According to the BBC, CEO Sam Altman sent a memo to employees on Thursday asserting that he shared the same “red lines” and that any OpenAI-related defense contracts would also reject applications that were “illegal or inappropriate for cloud deployments, such as domestic surveillance and autonomous offensive weapons.”

OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, who publicly clashed with Altman in November 2023 and has since launched his own AI firm, also contributed to the dialogue on Friday, posting on X: “It’s extremely positive that Anthropic has not yielded, and it’s noteworthy that OpenAI has adopted a similar position.”

However, within hours of the Trump administration instructing federal agencies to sever connections with Anthropic, OpenAI acted to exploit the gap, announcing a partnership with the Pentagon that Altman claimed upheld the same fundamental principles Anthropic had defended — bans on domestic surveillance and autonomous weaponry.

As reported by the New York Times, OpenAI and the government began discussions about a potential collaboration on Wednesday of this week.

Certainly, more developments are likely to arise.

Anthropic, OpenAI and Google all received contract grants from the U.S. Defense Department last July. While some Google employees have expressed support for Anthropic, Google and its parent organization have not yet responded.

Update: This story has been refreshed with additional reporting.