The tipping point came after Anthropic, the company behind Claude, refused to allow the Department of Defense to use its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. In response, President Trump ordered all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic's products, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced plans to designate the company a supply-chain threat.
Hegseth summoned Amodei and demanded that Anthropic AI be used any way he wants or said he'd cancel the company's existing $200 million contract and blacklist them from any further AI pacts. Hegseth gave Anthropic until 5 p.m. yesterday to bend the knee. Amodel didn't bend.