The dramatic fallout between Anthropic and the US government appears far from over, with no signs of a reconciliation. The Pentagon is now working to build its own alternatives to the Claude-maker’s technology, according to a senior US defense official.
The move comes after the Trump administration’s decision to label the artificial intelligence (AI) company a “supply-chain risk” amid a dispute over safeguards on the military use of its technology.
Anthropic has since challenged the designation in court.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Cameron Stanley, the Pentagon’s chief digital and AI officer, said it would take over a month to begin phasing out Anthropic’s products, which are currently being used in US military operations in Iran.
However, he added that efforts are already underway to deploy an alternative large-language model (LLM).
“The Department is actively pursuing multiple LLMs into the appropriate government-owned environments,” he said. “Engineering work has begun on these LLMs, and we expect to have them available for operational use very soon,” he said.
What does this mean for Anthropic?
Stanley’s remarks highlight the defense officials’ willingness to abandon Anthropic as an AI provider after talks broke down last month.
The dispute stems from Anthropic’s refusal to drop its demand for assurances that its AI tools would not be used for mass surveillance of Americans or deployment of autonomous weapons.
According to multiple reports, the US defense forces employed Anthropic’s AI to conduct airstrikes on Iran, which also killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Meanwhile, the “supply chain risk” designation puts at risk a $200 million deal for Anthropic to supply classified AI tools to the Pentagon and could prevent the company from partnering with other firms on defense projects.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump have already set a six-month timeline for the military and other federal agencies to move away from Anthropic towards other AI developers, Bloomberg reported.
While earlier reports suggested a possible patch-up between Anthropic and the Pentagon, the latest developments indicate the government is preparing to move ahead without the AI startup.
Impact of Pentagon’s remarks about Anthropic
Until the dispute escalated, Anthropic was the only AI provider operating within the Pentagon’s classified cloud, and its Claude tool gained favour among defense personnel for its ease of use, according to Bloomberg.
Anthropic said earlier that it could lose billions of dollars in revenue this year and requested the judge to take quick action on its request to block the Trump administration’s declaration, the agency reported.
As the feud was going on, Sam Altman-led OpenAI swooped in and made its own agreement with the Pentagon. The Department of Defense also signed a deal with Elon Musk’s xAI to deploy Grok in its classified systems, according to multiple reports.
(With wire inputs)
