![\"Anthropic](\"https:\/\/dataconomy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/anthropic-resumes-200-million-us-defense-department-contract-talks.jpg\" "\\"Anthropic")
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Anthropic reportedly resumed talks with the U.S. Defense Department to prevent the government from designating the company a supply chain risk. Negotiations broke down after Anthropic refused to delete a contract clause prohibiting the analysis of bulk acquired data. The Defense Department threatened to cancel its $200 million contract and label Anthropic a supply chain risk, a designation typically reserved for Chinese companies. President Trump ordered government agencies to stop using Anthropic\u2019s technology, though a six-month phase-out period allowed the government to use Anthropic\u2019s AI tools to stage an air attack on Iran.<\/p>\n
The dispute highlights the escalating conflict between major AI developers over defense contracts and surveillance prohibitions. Anthropic\u2019s refusal to remove the clause underscores its concern about enabling mass surveillance, while OpenAI\u2019s subsequent contract with the Defense Department positions it as a more compliant vendor. The fallout could reshape the competitive landscape for government AI procurement.<\/p>\n
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei stated in a memo that the Defense Department offered to accept the company\u2019s terms if it deleted the specific phrase about \u201canalysis of bulk acquired data.\u201d Amodei said the phrase \u201cwas the single line in the contract that exactly matched\u201d the scenario the company was \u201cmost worried about.\u201d He accused OpenAI CEO Sam Altman of spreading \u201cjust straight up lies\u201d and suggested Anthropic\u2019s government fallout resulted from not giving \u201cdictator-style praise to Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
OpenAI announced its Defense Department contract shortly after Anthropic\u2019s issues surfaced. Altman stated he told the government Anthropic should not be designated a supply chain risk. Altman later posted on X that OpenAI would amend its deal to explicitly prohibit the use of its AI system for mass surveillance against Americans.<\/p>\n
In an all-hands meeting, Altman stated that OpenAI does not make operational decisions on military use. He cited the Iran strike and Venezuela invasion as examples where the company does not weigh in. Altman said he did not know the details of Anthropic\u2019s contract but thought Anthropic should have agreed to it if it matched OpenAI\u2019s terms.<\/p>\n
Anthropic signed a $200 million deal with the Defense Department in 2025. The company\u2019s Claude chatbot rose to the top of Apple\u2019s Top Free Apps leaderboard after OpenAI announced its Defense Department contract, beating out ChatGPT.<\/p>\n
Featured image credit<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Anthropic reportedly resumed talks with the U.S. Defense Department to prevent the government from designating the company a supply chain risk. Negotiations broke down after Anthropic refused to delete a contract clause prohibiting the analysis of bulk acquired data. The Defense Department threatened to cancel its $200 million contract and label Anthropic a supply chain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-46926","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technologies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}