President Donald Trump on Friday ordered all US federal agencies to phase out their use of AI technology from the firm Anthropic. The move follows a public dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon.

Trump's directive came during an approaching deadline from the Pentagon to Anthropic urging the firm to allow unrestricted military use of its AI technology or face consequences.

In the back and forth with the US government, Anthropic had sought guarantees that its AI would not be used for fully autonomous weapons or for mass domestic surveillance. The Pentagon has claimed to have no interest in such use of the technology.

CEO Dario Amodei responded to the ultimatum by saying his company "cannot in good conscience accede" to the Defense Department's demands.

Democrats have criticized the Trump administration's handling of the matter. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the move "raises serious concerns about whether national security decisions are being driven by careful analysis or political considerations."

Anthropic currently has a $200 million (€169 million) contract with the defense department. 

Hegseth slams Anthropic's 'betrayal'

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the agency wants to "use Anthropic’s model for all lawful purposes," but he and other officials have not provided any details on how they would use the technology.

"Anthropic delivered a master class in arrogance and betrayal as well as a textbook case of how not to do business with the United States Government or the Pentagon," Defense Department Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X. 

"America's warfighters will never be held hostage by the ideological whims of Big Tech," he added.

Hegseth has now moved on to declare Anthropic a "supply-chain risk," and that "no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic." 

In response to Hegseth's post, Anthropic spoke out against "intimidation" from the Pentagon and said it will "challenge any supply chain risk designation in court."   

OpenAI reaches deal with Pentagon, Sam Altman says

A short while after, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, announced that his company had reached an agreement with the Pentagon to deploy its AI models on its classified network.

"In all of ‌our ​interactions, the DoW [Department of War] displayed a deep respect ​for safety and a ⁠desire ​to ​partner to achieve ​the best possible ‌outcome," Altman said in a post on X.

Altman addressed the two red lines Anthropic refused to budge on, saying the issues were brought up and resolved in line with safety principles.

"Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems. The DoW agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement," Altman said.

Trump vows to use 'full power of the presidency'

The Trump administration is providing for a six-month period for the Department of Defense and other agencies to phase out Anthropic's products.

"I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to ‌IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use ⁠of ⁠Anthropic's technology. We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

The president also threatened to use "the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to ‌follow" if Anthropic did not help in the phaseout period.

Edited by: Wesley Dockery